UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema – June 14-29

The UCLA Film & Television Archive is proud to continue its long tradition of bringing the best cinema from Iran and the Iranian diaspora to Los Angeles. Ever mindful of the ongoing struggles facing Iranian filmmakers in their native country, this year’s program champions the work of new and emerging directors while bringing back to the screen a long-thought-lost landmark of Iranian cinema. We are also once again happy to present selected finalists from the 2024 edition of the Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival. The power of the moving image to connect people otherwise distanced by cultural, political, and national divides and to lift them up in times of crisis has been embodied nowhere more profoundly over the last several decades than in the humanism, artistry and courage of Iranian filmmakers. The Archive is honored to highlight their work, again, at the Billy Wilder Theater.

Writer-director Dariush Mehrjui studied cinema and philosophy at UCLA before returning to Iran in the late 1960s where his second feature The Cow is credited with launching the Iranian New Wave. A giant of Iran cinema for over five decades until his untimely, tragic death in 2023, Mehrjui was a fierce critic of the Iranian regime and fought government censorship throughout his career. In his films, he explored the psychological toll of fear, ignorance and oppression on the lives of individuals with grace, insight and poetry. The Archive is honored to present a two-evening tribute (June 28 and 29) to his life and legacy featuring some of his greatest works.

For more info please click on below link:

https://farhang.org/film-screening/ucla-celebration-of-iranian-cinema-2025