With the direction of two short films and several music videos behind him, this is a respectable and thought-provoking debut feature by Aliyar Rasti, benefiting from Soroush Alizadeh’s cinematography, whose visually striking frames elevate the film. The Great Yawn of History! is a film of stark contrasts: desert and forest, halal and haram, old and young, realism and superstition, belief and disbelief, salvation and emptiness. At the beginning of the story, the audience is introduced to Beitollah, a man who, in his dreams, sees a cave containing a hidden treasure. Because of his beliefs—which deem exploiting such a treasure sinful—he…
Author: Sarina Sadeghi
Sarina Sadeghi
Sarina Sadeghi studied graphic design and is currently a cinema student at Pars University. Sadeghi has completed interview and film criticism courses at Jam-e Jam newspaper and currently writes film reviews for Golshan-e Mehr-e Golestan newspaper. She has also been a directing student in courses conducted by Majid Barzegar.
Today it was announced that the Oscars’ selection committee has removed the strong Iranian film Cause of Death: Unknown from the shortlist for Best International Feature Film—for known and unknown reasons alike. A film that had itself waited for several years in Iran just to receive a screening permit has now been excluded once again. Experience has shown that winning awards at ceremonies that increasingly resemble one another has little real impact on raising the artistic quality of cinema. At a time when most films—especially comedies—have reached the end of the theatrical road, and through the endless repetition of cheap gags…