Films by season & age - Tehran Calling (Ages 12-15)

Seasons are a great way to explore different ideas through watching a group of films. Why not try watching all the films in a season and make some time for discussion. Topics and discussion points are included.

You may have heard the Middle Eastern country of Iran being talked about in newspapers and on TV in terms that sound alarming or unflattering - its relationship with Britain having been rocky in recent years. But it’s also somewhere with a fascinating history – and part of that is a long tradition of movie-making.

Having been one of the first nations in the Middle East to embrace the movies – the first cinema in the Iranian capital of Tehran opened as long ago as 1904! – Iran’s film industry would later give the movie-going world legendary director Abbas Kiorastami, maker of such classics as Ten and Close-Up. But the ranks of its movie-makers have been swelled in recent years by a wave of young talent, including Samira Makhmalbaf, who was just 19 when she made the fantastic Blackboards (and that was actually her second film!). The films of Iran often star “real” people rather than actors, and almost always deal with ordinary life – and we hope you’ll agree that in their own way, they’re every bit as enthralling as any movies being made anywhere in the world today.

SUGGESTED PAIR

The new release Persepolis and Offside both portray the struggle of girls to live the lives they want to live in Iran’s male-dominated society.

Crimson Gold and Close-Up each deal with the frustrations of feeling “excluded” from success and prosperity in modern-day Iran.

TALKING POINTS

Apart from being made in another language, what kind of differences do you think there are between the Iranian films you’ve seen here and British or American movies?

Was there anything about the films you saw here that you would say they had in common?

Do you think you understand more about life in Iran having seen the films in this season?

PLEASE NOTE THAT PERSEPOLIS IS CURRENTLY SHOWING AT CINEMAS, AND WE HOPE THAT YOU’LL CHOOSE TO EXPERIENCE IT ON THE BIG-SCREEN. AS SOON AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE ON DVD, FILM CLUB WILL BE OFFERING OUR MEMBERS TO CHANCE TO WATCH IT IF THROUGH US.