BOOYE KAFOOR, ATRE YAS
.jpg)
|
 |
Iran
2000 / 35 mm / Color / 93 min.
|
|
SMELL OF CAMPHOR, FRAGRANCE OF JASMINE / L'ODEUR DU CAMPHRE, LE PARFUM DU JASMIN
For the past two decades, Bahman Farjami, a 55-year-old film director, has been forbidden by the post-revolutionary censor board to make a film in Iran. He is depressed. The death of his wife and other cineastes of his generation like Sohrab Shahid-Saless, Bahram Reypour and Ali Hatami, together with his own heart condition, make Farjami feel that he too is at the end of his career, if not of his life. Out of desperation, he decides to make a film about his own funeral. His research into Iranian funeral rites and contemporary Iranian society takes him on an emotional roller coaster that leads to his death -- maybe.
SMELL OF CAMPHOR, FRAGRANCE OF JASMINE is the product of the liberal political atmosphere of the past couple of years, and that is why I have tried to make my film a mirror that reflects what is happening to us. It is a bitter film, but not without hope. -- Bahman Farmanara
|
|
|
Script: Bahman Farmanara.
Phot.: Mahmood Kalari.
Ed.: Abbas Ghanjavi.
Mus.: Ahmad Pejman.
Cast: Bahman Farmanara, Roya Nonahali, Reza Kianian, Hossien Kasbian, Parivash Nazarieh, Vali Shirandami, Mahtaj Noojoumi, Firooz Behjatmohamadi.
Prod.: Morteza Shayesteh,15 Seventh Street, Vozara Ave., T�h�ran (Iran), t�l.: (98-21) 872 7188.
Sales: Farabi Cinema Foundation, International Dept., Sie Tir Ave., 55, T�h�ran 11358 (Iran), t�l.: (98-21) 678156 / 671010, fax: (98-21) 678155, e-mail: [email protected].
|
|
Bahman Farmanara
Born in Tehran in 1942, Bahman Farmanara studied music in London and cinema at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Returning to Iran in 1966, he began working as a journalist before joining the national TV network as a writer and anchor of film programs. In 1971 he made his directorial debut with a short, Nourooz and Caviar, followed in 1972 by Tehran, Old and New. He directed a TV series, QAMAR KHANOM'S HOUSE, which he then adapted to the screen as a feature. In 1973 he was appointed head of the Iran Film Industry Development Corporation. He moved to France in 1980, and the following year to Canada where he organized a film festival for children and founded a film distribution company. In recent years he taught at the College of Cinema and Theatre in Iran. SMELL OF CAMPHOR, FRAGRANCE OF JASMINE marks his return to directing after a 20-year absence. |
