Chess of the Wind
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release: Iranian Discoveries series
Iran | 1976 | DCP | 93 min. | Farsi with English subtitles
Director: Mohammad Reza Aslani; Cast: Fakhri Khorvash, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Shahram Golchin
A major rediscovery, this beautifully restored landmark of pre-revolution Iranian cinema was banned after a single screening and had long been considered lost. In an opulent, candlelit mansion, a wealthy family schemes against one another in pursuit of the remains of their inheritance. A haunting depiction of crumbling aristocracy much more redolent of Visconti than Kiarostami, Chess of the Wind is an essential addition to the canon of Iranian art cinema. Co-presented with the support of UW Madison’s Middle East Studies Program.
Screenings mostly take place at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. Once-a-month Sunday afternoon screenings take place at the Chazen Museum of Art, 750 University Avenue. In accord with current UW Madison policies, masks are required for entry to our venues. All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions from September 3 through December 18.
IRANIAN DISCOVERIES
In November, we are pleased to present a restored DCP of Abbas Kiarostami’s marvelous non-fiction portrait of Tehran school boys, First Graders (1984). Often overlooked in the shadow of the more widely-shown Homework (1989), First Graders is the first of Kiarostami’s two documentary features about education. While a lot of Iranian cinematic imports over the last three or four decades have been easily classifiable as neorealist works, Mohammad Reza Aslani’s Chess of the Wind (1976), also showing in a new restoration, is, as Cinematheque programmer Mike King writes, “a haunting depiction of crumbling aristocracy much more redolent of Visconti than Kiarostami..an essential addition to the canon of Iranian art cinema.”