The film is the story of a Christian man, Abdullah, who converts to Islam for the love of a Muslim girl, Raheleh. At the wedding, he hears voices calling for help. He leaves the ceremony and takes a journey to Karbala. But he arrives at the end of the Battle of Karbala after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions.

It is here, amidst the tragic event, that Abdullah realizes the weighty responsibility that now rests upon his shoulders to carry forward the message of Ashura.

The presence of Beizai as the script writer is widely regarded by most critics as one of the key factors behind the success of this film.

The strength and innovation of the text, along with its bold details and symbolic dialogues that resonate with today’s audience, have played a crucial role in ensuring the film’s enduring success over the years.

This film features a stellar cast including Ezzatollah Entezami, Jamshid Mashaiyekhi, Mehdi Fathi, and Mohammad Ali Keshavarz. It stands as a true masterpiece in Alireza Shojanuri’s acting career.

Laden Mostofi made her debut on the silver screen in this film, and the exceptional cast of talented actors, along with an impactful screenplay, transformed this momentous occasion into a timeless masterpiece of Iranian cinema.

The film score is also considered a major turning point in the success of the film. Maestro Majid Entezami has created an enduring masterpiece in the realm of Ashura melodies for the film. This work remains an unparalleled source of religious and ceremonial music, serving as an authentic reference for many years.

The film’s music was incredibly well-received by the audience, to the point that it was later released as a standalone album and gained significant recognition and acclaim.

The reception for this film and album was so incredible that for many years after its release, Entezami continued to perform it during his concerts and each time, the audience’s response was indescribable, creating an unforgettable experience.

Taking inspiration from the profound theme of Ashura, this film stands as one of the most unforgettable works in the history of Iranian cinema.

“The Fateful Day” is a remarkable work that explores the social aspects of the Ashura tragedy. Through its depiction of the society in which Imam Hussain (AS) was martyred, it delves into the influential factors that led to his unjust martyrdom.

Abdullah embarks on a journey throughout various locations, responding to the call for help, uncovering the profound presence of Imam Hussain (AS) in every place he visits.

During Abdullah’s journey, he becomes acquainted with the societal issues plaguing the people living under the rule of Yazid. Additionally, he witnesses firsthand the remarkable impact of Imam Hussain (AS) in resolving these problems.

In this film, Imam Hussain (AS) represents a beacon of blessings and light that brings prosperity to every household, abundance to every table, and adds profound significance and coherence to every tradition. In contrast, Yazid embodies darkness that brings devastation to every community, impoverishes every subject, and fosters superstition in all its forms.

This film is a mesmerizing journey with Abdullah, as he gracefully moves like a butterfly towards the illuminating universe of light. Through this captivating tale, we witness how the tenth day of Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar (680 CE) becomes a defining moment that illuminates the significance of good and evil throughout the course of human existence.

“The Fateful Day” follows Abdullah through his journey that ultimately guides him from a superficial, earthly love to a genuine love. In the film, we witness the tragic tale of a world under the rule of a tyrant like Yazid, where the noble Imam Hussein (AS) falls victim to the ruthless oppression and corruption enforced by the ruler.

To be continued

Photo: A scene from “The Fateful Day” by Shahram Asadi.

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Critic Amir-Hossein Siadat will discuss the documentary following a screening starting at 5 pm.

The film was compiled by German director Harun Farocki and Romanian writer Andrei Ujica in 1992.

Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu gave his last-ever public speech on December 21, 1989, from the balcony of the enormous People’s House in Bucharest. Five days later he was executed, together with his wife Elena. Media images from the revolution that unfolded in a matter of days were sparse. Chaos and confusion reigned supreme.

Farocki and Ujica collected 125 hours of film made by both amateurs and official news gatherers. From this huge diversity of perspectives, they distilled a reconstruction of the popular uprising. With meticulous attention to the facts, they took each clip and indicated the moment it was shot, who made it and with what intention, camera position, image quality and anomalies.

Scenes of outraged demonstrators and the storming of the palace, recall October (1928), Sergei Eisenstein’s documentary-style story about the Russian October Revolution in 1917. Eisenstein’s revolution was staged, however, while “Videograms of a Revolution” shows images of a reality that remains difficult to disentangle.

“The determining medium of an era has always marked history, quite unambiguously so in that of modern Europe. It was influenced by theater, from Shakespeare to Schiller, and later on by literature, until Tolstoy,” Ujica has previously said.

“As we know, the 20th century is filmic. But only the video camera, with its heightened possibilities in terms of recording time and mobility, can bring the process of filming history to completion. Provided, of course, that there is history,” he has added.

In 2004, the Austrian Film Museum selected the documentary as part of its Die Utopie Film program for the Best 100 in Film History list.

Photo: A scene from the documentary film “Videograms of a Revolution”.

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“Iranian short cinema is important not only in Iran but also across the world,” Isbilen told the Persian service of MNA on Sunday.

He was in Iran over the past week to join the international jury of the 39th Tehran International Short Film Festival, which wrapped up on Monday.

“Short films in Iran are like poems, especially those that are produced at the Iranian Youth Cinema Society,” Isbilen said.

He lamented the lack of such a great organization in Turkey to support short films and noted that short cinema can help develop the film industry in its general form and also that he would support any center promoting short films.

Isbilen talked about his longing for collaboration with an Iranian technical crew in his films and said that the public and private sectors may be able to coordinate such a collaboration.

The nature of education in every aspect of filmmaking is different from what exists in other countries, he noted and added, “Accordingly, Iranian filmmakers are technically open-minded.”

He said, “Iranian filmmakers have blended science and practice to achieve a cinema with such unique characteristics.”

Isbilen praised Iranian crews for their attachment to the projects they work on and said, “We should find ways to work in joint film projects and exploit Iranian technical crews in our productions.”

Isbilen, who started working on the production of commercial and promotional films in 1987, collaborates with the Department of Cinema and Digital Media at the Izmir University of Economics.

He has worked as director of photography in several film projects and presided over many international TV channels.

He took second place in the national competition at the 2009 TRT Documentary Awards for his documentary “Asia Minor… Again”.

Among his credits are “Izmir… 1922”, “Cradle and Lullaby”, “Children of Mimas”, “Longing for Istanbul”, “My Cretan Lemon Tree”, “The Story of Three Brothers” and “The Portrait of a Photograph in Motion”.

Photo: Turkish filmmaker Tahsin Isbilen in an undated photo.

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Speaking to the managers of several children’s educational centers on Sunday, Mehdi Javadi said, “For a long time, we have not cultivated anything in children’s cinema, therefore there is nothing to harvest.”

“A friend has said that we are approaching the extinction of children’s and young adult cinema; if we contemplate the comment well, we see it is not far from the reality,” he added.

Javadi noted that the lack of children’s films in the country has emerged in the wake of a gap between filmmakers and educational centers.

He made the remarks following the foundation’s decision to cancel its 35th edition of the Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Youth due to the lack of movies by local filmmakers.

“There were less than five films by local filmmakers to be screened at the festival… and the films fell below an acceptable standard,” he added.

He urged the managers of the educational centers to help fill in the gap between filmmakers and the centers by providing screenwriters with diverse topics.

Referring to the numerous problems facing the country’s educational system for children, Javadi said, “We cannot make films anymore for the sole purpose of entertainment.”

He said that the Farabi Cinema Foundation welcomes proposals from the educational centers and added, “You know the children of today and their needs, therefore tell us what we should make and which topics should be regarded; raise our awareness of methodologies for training and education and teach us what should be told to children in films and how.”

Over the past two decades, Iranian cinema has failed to introduce a new generation of children’s filmmakers.

In its new policy, the Farabi Cinema Foundation intends to promote children’s films by holding talks with organizations concerning children’s issues.

Earlier in August, the foundation announced that is seeking a five-year plan in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund – UNICEF to enhance children’s films in the country.

The plan was discussed in a meeting between the UNICEF Representative in Iran, Robin Nandy, and Javadi.

Photo: Farabi Cinema Foundation director Mehdi Javadi delivers a speech during a meeting with managers of several children’s educational centers in Tehran on October 16, 2022. 

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The expansion of cinematic relations was discussed in Hao’s meeting with the director of the organization, Hamidreza Jafarian, the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization announced on Monday.

“Due to the organization’s great potential for producing series, documentary, short and animated films, it can cooperate with China in joint film projects as there are strong cultural affinities between Iran and China that can help provide subjects and stories for the cinematic collaboration between the countries,” Jafarian said at the meeting.

Hao also praised the organization for the variety of its achievements and said that the achievements can help develop cinematic cooperation between Iran and China.

He added, “Cinematic relations between Iran and China have increased over the past three years and this development has occurred due to a memorandum of understanding signed between the Cinema Organization of Iran and Chinese film organizations.”

He referred to Iranian filmmakers’ frequent visits to the Shanghai and Beijing film festivals and the awards they have won at the international Chinese events, and said that China is eager to promote Iranian films in the Chinese film market and develop cooperation on joint film projects.

“China enjoys a strong film market,” Hao noted and expressed his hope that the upcoming cooperation between the Art Bureau’s Soureh Cinema Organization and Chinese film centers would spawn productions for the market.

The meeting went on with screening scenes from “Loopetou”, an animated film directed by Abbas Askari at the Soureh Cinema Organization.

The movie is about a psychiatrist who employs toys to cure his patients.

Hao said that the Chinese government supports plans to produce animated films and added that China welcomes the Soureh Cinema Organization’s ideas for joint productions in this area.

Earlier in February, Cinema Organization of Iran director Mohammad Khazaei and the Chinese ambassador to Tehran, Chang Hua, held a meeting to discuss the execution of memorandums of understanding signed by Iran and China to widen relations in the film industry.

Photo: Soureh Cinema Organization director Hamidreza Jafarian (1st L) and his colleagues hold a meeting with Chinese Cultural Attaché Joe Xie Hao (3rd L) and his colleague in Tehran.

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The program features “Breeding Ground”, “Rio Torto”, “Terra” (“Earth”) and “Perpetual Person”.

“Breeding Ground” directed by Pedro Felipe Marques, received the Doclisboa Award for best Portuguese film at the 17th Doclisboa International Film Festival in 2019.

This film shows the Arcozelo football field is battered by the North wind from Sunday to Sunday. The lawn has to be swept and lots of clothes washed. – The boys are coming. – The two equipment managers, São and Cunha, know the names of the little players. Everyone is taken care of and the socks drying on the goals are also to be lent.

The short documentary “Rio Torto” by Portuguese filmmaker Mário Veloso is about a vanishing generation that provides a final account of a healthy river and drinking water in a place where the bucolic landscape merges with urban sprawl and one of the ancient mills keeps on spinning.

The film Midas Filmes and DocLisboa Award for best Portuguese first film and the Pedro Fortes Award for Best Green Years Portuguese Film at the same edition of the Doclisboa festival.

“Terra” has been co-directed by Hiroatsu Suzuki from Japan and Portuguese filmmaker Rossana Torres. It was selected as the best Portuguese film at the Doclisboa festival in 2020.

This documentary depicts events somewhere in the Alentejo, where there are two large earth covered kilns by which a man makes charcoal. Essential elements like fire, water, air, earth and space reflect, breathe and celebrate the rhythm of the Earth.

Directed by Javier Bellido Valdivia from Peru, “Perpetual Person” is an intimate approach to the experience of Alzheimer’s disease in a 95-year-old woman and her relationship with her immediate surroundings. The tension between lucidity and dementia will shape a new notion of personhood, able to live and perceive the world in another way.

The film had its world premiere at the Doclisboa festival 2020.

Cinéma Vérité is organized by the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) every year in December.

Due to the pandemic, the international section of the 2020 edition was non-competitive. Like the previous edition, this year’s edition will also be held online from December 9 to 16.

Photo: A poster for a section of Iran’s Cinéma Vérité dedicated to reviewing top films acclaimed at Portugal’s Doclisboa International Film Festival. 

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IRAN NEWS ART DESK

TEHRAN – The Art and Experience Institute of Iranian’s Cinema in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Tehran is to hold Spotlight on Italian Cinema on December 1-5 virtually.

According to the reports, the event takes place online through the Hashure platform and five contemporary Italian art movies are to be screened on December 1-5 on Hashure.com in cooperation with Art and Experience Institute of Iranian’s Cinema for the Italian movie enthusiasts.

The event is held exclusively for Iran by featuring five movies. Everyone can sign up hashure.com platform for free to watch the films.

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