ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Film Retrospective - Introduction

Venue:

National Film Theatre, South Bank, Waterloo, London SE1 8XT.

Dates:

1 May - 2 June, 2005.

Organised by:

The National Film Theatre in collaboration with the Iran Heritage Foundation, the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute and the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon).

Introduction:

A few years ago, shortly after The Taste of Cherry won the Palme d'Or, several influential millennium polls voted Iran's Abbas Kiarostami the most important filmmaker of the 90s. His next film, The Wind Will Carry Us, carried off a similarly prestigious prize in Venice. But Kiarostami had never been one to rest on his laurels, and his next few films (most especially 10 and Five) saw him exploring the potential of digital technology - with illuminating and exhilarating results.

Made for the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon), Kiarostami's earliest films already displayed ample evidence of his idiosyncratic but very special talent. But it was only at the end of the 80s, with the multi-award-winning Where is the Friend's House?, that he began to garner the widespread international recognition he truly deserved. Thereafter, success followed critical success, particularly with the remarkable Close-Up and the films grouped by some (though not by their maker) as the Koker Trilogy. By then, it was very clear that it was inadequate to regard Kiarostami as a neo-realist humanist pure and simple; the poetry, the playfulness, the self-reflexivity and the quizzical, ambivalent attitude towards 'reality' and 'fiction' marked him out as an unusually user-friendly modernist master of cinema.

The National Film Theatre presents a comprehensive season of his films; and recommends not only that you see as many as possible, but that you try and watch them in the order in which they were made, since Kiarostami's work grows organically in subtlety, complexity and resonance. That said, the tantalising interweaving of fiction and documentary, the uncommonly accessible brand of experimentation, the humanism and poetic beauty of his movies remain constants. They confirm him not only as one of the world's greatest living filmmakers but as one of the major artists of our time. The retrospective includes the UK Premiere of Five as well as a Special Preview of Kiarostami's latest film Tickets.

Programme and screening schedules:

For a description of the films as well as the detailed screening schedule please click on 'Programme' and for an alphabetical listing of the films click on 'List of Films' in the left column of this page.

Ticket prices:

8.20 GBP unless otherwise stated. 6.25 GBP concessions on day of performance only. 1 GBP off for NFT members. Contact the box office for additional details.

Box office:

44 20 79283232, Minicom 44 20 76202025, Online www.bfi.org.uk/nft.

Kiarostami festival:

This programme is part of a London-wide programme of events entitled Abbas Kiarostami: Visions of the Artist celebrating the achievements of this artist and his impact on contemporary culture and society.