| IFVC's
production history goes back to 1992 with
participation in the independent American
production of Manhattan By Numbers by Amir
Naderi. This was Mr. Naderi's first film in
the USA since he had left Iran in 1987 to
come to live in New York. Although the film
was an artistic triumph, it wasn't a commercial
success. It was selected for more than thirty
international film festivals, including Venice,
Toronto, New Films/New Directors in New York,
London, San Sebastian (competition), India,
Cairo, Thessaloniki, Chicago, and many more.
It was the first time that an Iranian director
with Iranian producers had made a film in
the USA for a budget of under one million
dollars to compete with the heavyweight film
productions from Hollywood.
In 1994 Bahman Maghsoudlou went to India
with Mr. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, another Iranian
director, to produce Maharajah. After three
weeks of scouting and putting together a
most distinguished crew, the Indian authorities
would not approve the script and the project
was scrapped. Mr. Makhmalbaf went back to
Iran and made Salaam Cinema.
Two years later Mr. Maghsoudlou produced
Seven Servants with legendary actor Anthony
Quinn in Germany for the German company
Das Werk. This was the debut feature of
artist Daryush Shokof, based on a script
written by him and Juliane Schulze which
featured a beautiful score by jazz great
Gato Barbieri. This was the second time
Mr. Barbieri had worked with his close friend
Mr. Maghsoudlou, the first being Manhattan
By Numbers. The film was selected for the
Locarno Festival (competition) and was shown
at the Grand Piazza for closing night for
a special event. The film then went on to
Montreal, Toronto, Thessaloniki, India,
Cairo, Berlin, and many other festivals.
In 1998, Mr. Maghsoudlou produced Life
In Fog, written and directed by Mr. Bahman
Ghobadi, a young short filmmaker that Mr.
Maghsoudlou had discovered. The film went
on to become the most awarded short/documentary
film in the history of Iranian cinema, garnering
fifteen awards in the roughly thirty festivals
in which it was invited to participate.
It also served as the basis for Mr. Ghobadi's
first feature, A Time For Drunken Horses.
IFVC has been quite active in the producing
of documentaries as well, including our
ongoing Persian Artists series, which began
with Ahmad Shamlou: Master Poet Of Liberty,
a film about the most important contemporary
poet and freedom-of-speech activist. The
film, made with Mr. Shamlou's participation
before he passed away, was premiered at
the Stig Dagerman Award Ceremony at which
Mr. Shamlou was honored and presented with
the award. The second film in the Persian
Artists series is nearing completion and
focuses on the great novelist Ahmad Mahmoud.
also see:
Silence
Of The Sea
Ahmad Mahmoud;
A Noble Novelist
Leo Tolstoy
Iranian Cinema:
Searching For The Roots (1900-1979)
IFVC's Past Productions
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