IN TIERS,  A STARTER PACK OF 30 FIRST, THE REST IN REVERSE YEAR ORDER 

Iran has given us one of the world’s great civilisations and a noble cinema too, many films of humanity and intelligence. Common themes include children, the role of women and- in the case of the most critically admired director Kiarostami in particular-, film-making itself and the boundary of illusion and reality. I’m not including films by the Iranian-born Barbet Schroeder but i am including some films on Iranian subjects by Iranian directors working elsewhere.

Reading:
Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa, Jonathan Rosenbaum: Abbas Kiarostami
Hamid Dabashi: Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present and Future
Hamid Dabashi: Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema

Wikipedia: Cinema of Iran
Wikipedia: Abbas Kiarostami


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There have been numerous female directors, including some of the most prominent  overall; Forough Farrokhzad, Rakshan Bani-Etemad, Samira and Hana Makhmalbaf, Marzieh Meshkini/Makhmalbaf, Sadaf Foroughi…. and also Marjane Satrapi, Shirin Neshat, Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa based abroad, whose Iranian-set films i’m including in this list.

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My 10 favourites:
The House is Black, Where is the Friend’s Home?, Through the Olive Trees, Brick and Mirror, The White Balloon, Bashu the Little Stranger, Gabbeh, Tehran Taxi, Close Up, Fireworks Wednesday.

See also Arsaib’s excellent list Sohrab Shahid Saless about the Iranian director who went on to make radical films in West Germany but who has never received due attention either in that country or in general studies internationally of Iranian cinema.

Oh and do read My Uncle Napoleon, one of my favourite novels.

IN TIERS, A STARTER PACK OF 30 FIRST, THE REST IN REVERSE YEAR ORDER
Iran has given us one of the world&#8217;s great civilisations and a noble cinema too, many films of humanity and intelligence. Common themes include children, the role of women and- in the case of the most critically admired director Kiarostami in particular-, film-making itself and the boundary of illusion and reality. I&#8217;m not including films by the Iranian-born Barbet Schroeder but i am including some films on Iranian subjects by Iranian directors working elsewhere.
Reading: 
Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa, Jonathan Rosenbaum: Abbas Kiarostami 
Hamid Dabashi: Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present and Future 
Hamid Dabashi: Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema
Wikipedia: Cinema of Iran 
Wikipedia: Abbas Kiarostami
~
There have been numerous female directors, including some of the most prominent overall; Forough Farrokhzad, Rakshan Bani-Etemad, Samira and Hana Makhmalbaf, Marzieh Meshkini/Makhmalbaf, Sadaf Foroughi…. and also Marjane Satrapi, Shirin Neshat, Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa based abroad, whose Iranian-set films i&#8217;m including in this list.
__
My 10 favourites: 
The House is Black, Where is the Friend&#8217;s Home?, Through the Olive Trees, Brick and Mirror, The White Balloon, Bashu the Little Stranger, Gabbeh, Tehran Taxi, Close Up, Fireworks Wednesday.
See also Arsaib&#8217;s excellent list Sohrab Shahid Saless about the Iranian director who went on to make radical films in West Germany but who has never received due attention either in that country or in general studies internationally of Iranian cinema.
Oh and do read My Uncle Napoleon, one of my favourite novels.

ESSENTIAL IRANIAN FILMS