Author: Abbas Yari

I Swear is that rare docudrama, which manages to be both. deeply emotional and utterly unsentimental. This film captures a portrait of a man whose unfiltered presence shook people out of complacency, and, in the process, reshaped the way a community thought about difference. I Swear resists easy categorization: part biographical drama, part observational documentary, and part rallying cry for a gentler society. What makes it resonate so powerfully is its commitment to honesty. Nothing here is softened, censored, or polished for easier consumption. Every tic, every outburst, every awkward pause is left intact, and yet the effect is not alienating—it is profoundly…

For Greeks, there are names that throb in their ears like the pulse of history: Zorba the Greek and its creator Nikos Kazantzakis, Melina Mercouri and her exiled husband Jules Dassin, Costa-Gavras, and Theo Angelopoulos. Beside these, the voice of Maria Callas is heard from afar, and the shadow of the billionaire Onassis stretches across the Aegean; the lives of both eventually became fodder for American cinema, though the actors portraying them had no connection to Greece. And another name, fiery and enduring: Irene Papas. A woman furious and long-suffering in Rome, Open City, in Zorba the Greek, in The…

The family, once the most important institution of emotional and social support, what is its state today? Is it still able to endure the crises of our complex modern world? So often we feel the need to understand what’s happening around us, what conditions families live under. Part of this curiosity can be answered in the films made by independent filmmakers. Today, whether we like it or not, part of humanity’s awareness is not shaped by state-controlled news networks, but by independent filmmakers, whose sharp eyes and cameras offer us images of society, culture, political unrest, and smaller communities like…

Danes Enjoy Hearing Nonsense! Lars von Trier, the renowned Danish director who is often credited with reviving Danish cinema—and who gained significant popularity and respect among Iranian cinephiles for his film Dogville—had sent his new film The Boss of It All to the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2006, but he himself remained in Copenhagen. It was said at the time that he was mourning the death of someone close to him, but everyone knew that von Trier suffers from an intense fear of traveling—whether by plane, train, ship, or car. He would make it to Cannes once a year…

48th Thessaloniki Film Festival: A Report from the Frontlines of Independent Cinema The 48th Thessaloniki Film Festival was held from November 16 to 25, 2007 (Aban 25 to Azar 4, 1386 in the Iranian calendar), in the coastal city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece, and I was invited as a guest. Among the guests were several prominent figures of American independent cinema, including John Sayles, who was specially honored at this edition. Several of Sayles’ films were screened in the festival’s “Panorama” section, and he received the prestigious Golden Alexander award. This year’s festival placed special emphasis on creative works…

My friendship with dear Parviz Davayi catapults me back fifty years, to when I was doing my military service. I’d send letters from the training camp in Birjand, near the Afghan border, to my family in Arak—letters full of love and longing for their well-being. Davayi, despite having lived in Europe for almost five decades, still lives emotionally in those same early days of love and sentiment. His perspective, his feelings, his descriptions of family, childhood, friendship, and shared life with his wife and fellow townspeople aren’t virtual or copy-pasted—they are real and heartfelt. In his home, instead of mobile…

It is entirely true that an acting career in cinema, theater, and television is limited and has an expiration date. Great and beloved stars, over time, drift away from lead young roles; and if they manage to retain some of their popularity over the years, they are cast as middle-aged characters, and in the third stage of their lives, they appear as grandmothers and grandfathers—until eventually, the force of time confines them to their homes. Of course, there are exceptions—figures who cannot be limited to any generation or era. Years may pass, and they may no longer appear on screen,…

The vulnerability and disorientation of children due to displacement, family turmoil, and the tragedies of war have been portrayed in various forms by filmmakers around the world. One notable example is Bashu, the Little Stranger by the acclaimed Iranian director Bahram Beyzai—a story of a child who loses his home and family in a bombing and flees, distraught and fearful, from the south of Iran to a remote, peaceful region in the north. But even in this lush, green environment, everything feels foreign and unfamiliar to him. Na’i, a woman whose husband is away fighting at the front, offers Bashu…

One of my favorite films is To Be or Not to Be by Kianoush Ayari. About twenty-seven years ago, when I saw this film at the Fajr Film Festival, I was so deeply moved that I wished every Iranian citizen, just like carrying an ID card or a national card, would carry an organ donor card in their pocket—so that if one day, due to an accident, they were declared brain dead, parts of their body would not rot under the cold earth, but continue to live on in someone else’s body. This film was made at a time when…

I met Ole Christian Madsen, the acclaimed Danish filmmaker, at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece. He had brought seven of his films to the festival and spoke passionately about them. He said, “The core message of all my films is that people are nothing without connection to one another.” Madsen, who often shoots his films in different countries, believes in removing actors and crew from their everyday routines during production to preserve the spirit of the film. He explained that for one of his films, he traveled to Argentina and, while filming, would get lost among crowds at football…