Bahman Maghsoudlou Film Festival | Abbas Kiarostami: A report

For the penultimate screening in the Bahman Maghsoudlou Film Festival director, writer and executive producer Dr Maghsoudlou himself will join us. Following the film, there will be a Q&A session and an opportunity to engage in a conversation with him.

An analysis of the style and vision of Abbas Kiarostami, the world’s most iconic Iranian filmmaker, through the lens of his earliest work, including his first short film (Bread & Alley, 1970) and, particularly, his first feature, The Report. This early example of Kiarostami’s work gives insight into his poetic, humanistic tendencies, combining allegorical storytelling with a documentary, neo-realist sensibility, and often exploring the very nature of film as fiction, that have pervaded his work ever since, including such recent international sensations as A Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy. 

Exclusive interviews with film critics, historians and scholars (including the late great Andrew Sarris) and those directly involved in the making of The Report provide a look at how the career of this master independent auteur began and was shaped.

Chair

• Dr Ali Alavi, Lecture in Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies and co-director of SOAS Centre for Iranian Studies