#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 8: pardoned on #PardonDay

#AbbasKiarostami's Close-Up (1990) is visual narrative illustrating a crime. A cinephile pretends to be a filmmaker and slowly extorts a family into believing to star in the director's next film. An article about the case intrigued director Kiarostami so much that he decided to film the court case against Sabzian, and ask the accused, Makhmalbaf, and the Ahankhah family to reenact some of the events.

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#AbbasKiarostami's idea for the film is simple - try to bridge the gap between painting, photograph and moving pictures: we go great length to capture one still moment. That instant is frozen in time forever. But what about before and after that moment? They are usually easily discarded from and forgotten in our memories. Cinema can prolong that moment, to help us in imagining the narrative, in contextualizing the content within the frame a little more. Comprised of 24 4 1/2 minute static shots, 24 Frames is, in large part, a collaboration of Kiarostami and visual effects artist Ali Kamali. Based on Kiarostami's photographs and videos, Kamali is responsible for digitally creating the multilayered images. Kiarostami was a true polymath. His haiku inspired poetry, his minimalist landscape photography as well as his films, 24 Frames represents the culmination of all his artistic practices. What make it so sad to me at least, is that there is no finality to the film. #24frames

A man drives around looking for someone to assist him in his suicide. They don't have to do the deed. He will take sleeping pills and lie down in an already dug up grave. In the morning, they can put some earth on him. They will be rewarded handsomely. First, a young soldier runs away after finding out what the man is up to. Second, a seminary student from Afghanistan objects because of his religious beliefs and tries to dissuade him. Finally, an old taxidermist agrees to it, because he has a sick child. With Louis Armstrong's St. Jame's Infirmary playing at the end over the image, he tells us that death is inevitable for all of us and makes us think. His cinema is precious because it doesn't resemble any other. If Tarkovsky tried to make us feel the 'passage of time' with his virtuosic camera movements, framing & lighting, #AbbasKiarostami succeeds in astounding simplicity - Life is a moving car. Done. It all fits nicely with his theme of life, death, cinema, reality… #tasteofcherry

Kiarostami's moving picture continues. A middle aged man & his young son are on the road to Koker, a northern rural town leveled by the devastating earthquake in 1990. It is only revealed later on that the man is a film director who is looking for a child actor who starred in his previous film, Where is Your Friend's Home? As they encounter monstrous traffic jam and many victims of the 'god's will', the line between reality and fiction evaporates. Shot shortly after the real earthquake that took the lives of 50,000, & based on his own experience driving around with his real son, Life and Nothing More... shows resilience of the people amid a horrible disaster. They fidget a TV antenna to watch a World Cup game in ruins. Many of ‘Kiarostami styles’ are present: interior driving shots, wide scenery long takes, no close-ups. Elegantly simple and captivating throughout with an open ending, Life and Nothing More... is a beautiful film. #abbaskiarostami #iraniancinema #kokertrilogy

(II) Zire darakhatan zeyton (A través de los olivos), 1994 #Iran #AbbasKiarostami #cinema

Un equip de rodatge arriba a Koker, un poble del nord de l'Iran devastat per un tremolor de terra.

Zire darakhatan zeyton (A través de los olivos), 1994 #Iran #AbbasKiarostami #cinema

Un equip de rodatge arriba a Koker, un poble del nord de l'Iran devastat per un tremolor de terra.

An Englishman is giving a talk on his new book about the legitimacy of copies compared originals in art in picturesque Tuscani. As an infatuated antique dealer picks him up and drives him around town as a guide, the film becomes something else: deconstruction of a marriage. Even though it's the first Kiarostami film set outside Iran, his touches are everywhere. One of my absolute favorites. #abbaskiarostami #juliettebinoche #iraniancinema #williamshimell #tuscany

The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) - Abbas Kiarostami #iraniancinema #abbaskiarostami #iran

Penso all'#iran e non mi levo dalla testa i danni che l'#oscurantismo religioso può fare all'interno del tessuto culturale di una società. Prima del ‘79 l’Iran aveva formato menti limpide come quella di #abbaskiarostami. "Five” è un’opera in cui il minimalismo dell'immagine è travolto dalla profondità del messaggio. In rete si trova questa perla in cui ci spiega come lo ha fatto; una lezione sulla bellezza del cinema e della vita in generale. #chess vs #backgammon
https://youtu.be/xu9cbCJKLs8

Photograph by Abbas Kiarostami #AbbasKiarostami #Photography #Iranian #Rain