Homework
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release: Iran | 1989 | DCP | 86 min. | Persian with English subtitles
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Kiarostami himself interviews a succession of first and second graders about their home situations and the homework they must do there. “For all the simplicity of its approach, this film has a great deal to impart about Iran during its war with Iraq, and some of the unorthodox formal procedures carried out by Kiarostami are as provocative as in his subsequent documentary masterpiece, Close-up; moreover, the director seems every bit as adept as Truffaut at handling children with respect” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Preceded by Kiarostami’s short films Orderly or Disorderly (1981, 15 min.) and Two Solutions for One Problem (1975, 4 min.).
Abbas Kiarostami: The Koker Trilogy and More: This fall, the Cinematheque presents new restorations of the three films that firmly cemented the reputation of Iran’s Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) as one of the world’s leading cinema artists. Eventually known as “The Koker Trilogy,” these films collectively tell the story of the mountainous Koker region in Northern Iran and its resilient, hard-working and life-affirming residents, told with universality, simplicity and cleverness that has made them favorites of audiences in all parts of the world. Using bare-boned plots that recall Italian neorealism, Kiarostami manages to touch us without using complicated or forced contrivances that are de rigeur in contemporary popular cinema. In addition, you’ll also have a chance to catch-up with Kiarostami’s moving feature-length documentary, Homework (1989) along with several of his brilliant short films. Kiarostami’s work is a testament to the notion that great art knows no national boundaries.