Post-Revolution Iran Film Series:
“Close Up” by Abbas Kiarostami

Please join us for the fifth and final session in this film series – a screening of “Close-Up” by Abbas Kiarostami; followed by a discussion, led by Prof. Selmin Kara.

About “Close-Up”
Abbas Kiarostami is the most influential and widely admired of all Iranian directors, and ‘Close-Up’ is considered his masterpiece.
It tells the true story of Hossain Sabzian, who decided to impersonate famous film director Mohsen Makmalbaf. Under this assumed identity, Sabzian convinced a naive, film-loving family that he planned to make a movie about them. His deception was eventually revealed, and he was charged with fraud.
The film explores the motives behind Sabzian’s impersonation, and asks questions about the nature of identity more broadly. All of those involved in the real-life events play themselves, blurring the line between fact and fiction. A perfect conclusion to this film series, ‘Close-Up’ is not just a wonderful Iranian film, but is also about Iranian film, and the power of filmmaking.

Selmin Kara (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Film and New Media at OCAD University. She has critical interests in digital aesthetics and the ecological imaginary in contemporary fiction and nonfiction film, and is currently working on a book project exploring the cinematic representations of the Anthropocene. Selmin is the co-editor of Contemporary Documentary and her work has also appeared in Post-Cinema: Theorizing 21st Century Film, the Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Digital Media, Studies in Documentary Film, Music and Sound in Nonfiction Film, and The Philosophy of Documentary Film.

Date: Saturday July 27, 2019
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Auditorium, Noor Cultural Centre
Admission: General – $10; Unwaged/student – $5 

For more information about the series, please click here. 

This series is curated by Daniel Davidson-Kalmar, who holds a Master’s Degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto. Within his general interest in international film, he has a particular passion for Iranian cinema.