Another week, another early Asghar Farhadi film gets restored and finally comes to North America. Following last week’s release of his 2003 drama Dancing in the Dust, Film Movement Classics will now release the Oscar-winning Iranian director’s second feature Beautiful City in a new 2K restoration approved by Farhadi. Led by Taraneh Alidoosti––who would go on to work with the director in Fireworks Wednesday, About Elly, and The Salesman––the 2004 drama will be released digitally on October 13 and we’re pleased to exclusively deubt the new trailer.
Here’s the full synopsis: “After spending two years in juvenile detention for killing his girlfriend as a teenager, the troubled, young Akbar is transferred to an adult facility shortly after turning 18. No longer a minor, his death sentence will soon be legally carried out. Meanwhile outside, Ala — Akbar’s friend and newly paroled petty thief — along with Akbar’s sister...
Here’s the full synopsis: “After spending two years in juvenile detention for killing his girlfriend as a teenager, the troubled, young Akbar is transferred to an adult facility shortly after turning 18. No longer a minor, his death sentence will soon be legally carried out. Meanwhile outside, Ala — Akbar’s friend and newly paroled petty thief — along with Akbar’s sister...
- 10/4/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After last year’s Cannes Film Festival was reduced to a press conference announcing the works they would’ve screened, they’re back in full swing for 2021. Forgoing the virtual aspects embraced by many festivals, Cannes kicks off this Tuesday and we’ll be on the ground to cover.
Ahead of the festivities we’ve rounded up what we’re most looking forward to—and while we’re sure many surprises await, per every year, one will find twenty films that should already be on your radar. Check out our picks below and be sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest updates from the festival.
20. The Year of the Everlasting Storm (Various)
It’s only fitting to kick off with a film that looks to encapsulate our tumultuous year. Featuring contributions from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who appears a bit later down as well), David Lowery, Jafar Panahi, Laura Poitras,...
Ahead of the festivities we’ve rounded up what we’re most looking forward to—and while we’re sure many surprises await, per every year, one will find twenty films that should already be on your radar. Check out our picks below and be sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest updates from the festival.
20. The Year of the Everlasting Storm (Various)
It’s only fitting to kick off with a film that looks to encapsulate our tumultuous year. Featuring contributions from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who appears a bit later down as well), David Lowery, Jafar Panahi, Laura Poitras,...
- 7/4/2021
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Fireworks Wednesday
Chicago International Film Festival
CHICAGO -- Ever think of anyone having sex or relationships in Iran? Probably not, since our outside view is permeated by TV visions of severe clerics and confrontational geopolitics. That's what is so powerful about this Gold Hugo winner at the Chicago International Film Festival. Fireworks Wednesday (Chaharshanbe-soori) is told from the inside out, a stunning story of the day-to-day personal hell that roils in that conflicted country.
Spun in personal terms, it's a stirring indictment of a country that is truly imploding under its social, political and religious strains. With its top prize from Chicago, Fireworks should thrive on the festival circuit and could have a measure of success as a foreign video rental.
Prismed through the eyes of young maid Roohi (Taraneh Alidoosti), who is soon to be married, Fireworks depicts lives of noisy desperation. Through filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's textures, we feel the debilitating abrasions of modern-day Tehran -- constant explosive noises, irritating confrontations and chaotic daily life.
It's within this mind-set of mayhem that the young maid sets about getting her eyebrows done for her wedding (a risky deal given the atavistic mind-set of the clerics), as well as cleaning a client's apartment. While at her one-day job, she's thrown into the midst of a bitter family fight between a wife who suspects her husband of cheating with the hairdresser next door.
By thrusting his theme into a small and shrill domestic drama, Farhadi extrapolates a larger picture of contemporary Iran, a hellhole where no one trusts anyone and where everyone is under constant judgmental surveillance. In particular, through this rousing drama, we are privy to the plight of women who must survive oppressions of every nature; essentially, they must endure through guile and secrecy.
Under Farhadi's disciplined hand, Fireworks Wednesday is a spare but explosive story of personal turmoil aggravated by relentless institutional oppression.
FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY
Boshra Films
Credits:
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Screenwriters: Asghar Farhadi, Mani Haghighi
Producer: Jamal Sadatian
Director of photography: Hossein Djafarian
Production designer: Hossein Majd
Music: Peyman Yazdanian
Editor: Haydeh Safi-Yari
Cast:
Mozhde: Hedye Tehrani
Roohi: Taraneh Alidoosti
Morteza: Hamid Farokhnezad
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
CHICAGO -- Ever think of anyone having sex or relationships in Iran? Probably not, since our outside view is permeated by TV visions of severe clerics and confrontational geopolitics. That's what is so powerful about this Gold Hugo winner at the Chicago International Film Festival. Fireworks Wednesday (Chaharshanbe-soori) is told from the inside out, a stunning story of the day-to-day personal hell that roils in that conflicted country.
Spun in personal terms, it's a stirring indictment of a country that is truly imploding under its social, political and religious strains. With its top prize from Chicago, Fireworks should thrive on the festival circuit and could have a measure of success as a foreign video rental.
Prismed through the eyes of young maid Roohi (Taraneh Alidoosti), who is soon to be married, Fireworks depicts lives of noisy desperation. Through filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's textures, we feel the debilitating abrasions of modern-day Tehran -- constant explosive noises, irritating confrontations and chaotic daily life.
It's within this mind-set of mayhem that the young maid sets about getting her eyebrows done for her wedding (a risky deal given the atavistic mind-set of the clerics), as well as cleaning a client's apartment. While at her one-day job, she's thrown into the midst of a bitter family fight between a wife who suspects her husband of cheating with the hairdresser next door.
By thrusting his theme into a small and shrill domestic drama, Farhadi extrapolates a larger picture of contemporary Iran, a hellhole where no one trusts anyone and where everyone is under constant judgmental surveillance. In particular, through this rousing drama, we are privy to the plight of women who must survive oppressions of every nature; essentially, they must endure through guile and secrecy.
Under Farhadi's disciplined hand, Fireworks Wednesday is a spare but explosive story of personal turmoil aggravated by relentless institutional oppression.
FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY
Boshra Films
Credits:
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Screenwriters: Asghar Farhadi, Mani Haghighi
Producer: Jamal Sadatian
Director of photography: Hossein Djafarian
Production designer: Hossein Majd
Music: Peyman Yazdanian
Editor: Haydeh Safi-Yari
Cast:
Mozhde: Hedye Tehrani
Roohi: Taraneh Alidoosti
Morteza: Hamid Farokhnezad
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Top Hugo goes to Iranian film 'Fireworks'
CHICAGO -- The Iranian film Fireworks Wednesday (Chahar Shanbe Souri) on Sunday won the Gold Hugo, the top prize at the 42nd Chicago International Film Festival. The film, a story of infidelity and social hierarchy in contemporary Iran, was directed by Asghar Farhadi. In the documentary category, a U.S./Iraq entry, Iran in Fragments, won the Gold Hugo. Directed by James Longley, the film explores the diverse regions of Iraq and the often contradictory views of its diverse population. A French/Algerian co-production, Days of Glory (Indigenes) won a Silver Hugo as a special jury prize. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, the World War II saga explores the allegiance of the North Africans who fought for the country that colonized them. The festival, which kicked off Oct. 5 with a gala premiere of Stranger Than Fiction, continues through Thursday, culminating with a closing-night screening of the British film Venus.
- 10/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Top Hugo goes to Iranian film 'Fireworks'
CHICAGO -- The Iranian film Fireworks Wednesday (Chahar Shanbe Souri) on Sunday won the Gold Hugo, the top prize at the 42nd Chicago International Film Festival. The film, a story of infidelity and social hierarchy in contemporary Iran, was directed by Asghar Farhadi. In the documentary category, a U.S./Iraq entry, Iran in Fragments, won the Gold Hugo. Directed by James Longley, the film explores the diverse regions of Iraq and the often contradictory views of its diverse population. A French/Algerian co-production, Days of Glory (Indigenes) won a Silver Hugo as a special jury prize. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, the World War II saga explores the allegiance of the North Africans who fought for the country that colonized them. The festival, which kicked off Oct. 5 with a gala premiere of Stranger Than Fiction, continues through Thursday, culminating with a closing-night screening of the British film Venus.
- 10/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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