Join us for a film screening of “Touran Khanom,” and a discussion with the film’s directors Rakhshan Banietemad and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. The film and conversation will be in Persian. Film is 1 hour and 29 minutes and has English subtitles. Ms. Banietemad will join in person and Mr. Mirtahmasb will join via Zoom.
Touran Mirhadi (Khomarloo) is the founder of Farhad School, the Children's Book Council, and the Encyclopedia for Young People. She was actively involved with close to 20 other institutions addressing child development and education and supported the formation of dozens of others. She is known as the preeminent architect of the childhood institution and the mother of modern education in Iran. The film follows the efforts and preoccupations of Ms. Touran Mirhadi in the last four years of her life. It shows how she strove to enrich the field of child education in Iran to the age of 89, always maintaining that peace was to be cultivated at childhood.
Rakhshan Banietemad, born in 1954 Tehran, began to make documentaries for the Iranian National Television in 1979, right after graduating from the University of Dramatic Arts, Tehran, and she focused on making only documentaries until 1987. That year she directed her first feature film, Off the Limits. In 1991, she became the first woman recipient of the Best Director award for Nargess at Fajr International Film Festival in Iran. In 1995, she won the Bronze Leopard for The Blue Veiled at the Locarno Film Festival. Under the Skin of the City, her next film, was the highest grossing film in Iran in 2000. This film along with Gilaneh (2005) and Mainline (2006), garnered major awards in more than 50 film festivals. While Banietemad’s feature films have been acclaimed and honored worldwide, her documentaries have also been successful and popular internationally. Our Times… was the first documentary ever to be released in the movie theatres in Iran in 2002. It was also screened in highly prestigious and prominent festivals and TV channels such as IDFA, Sundance Film Festival and ARTE.
In 2008, she received an honorary doctorate from University of London and in 2010, she was awarded the Prix Henri Langlois from Vincennes International Film Festival. Her latest feature film, Tales, was awarded the Best Screenplay prize in the main competition section of 2014 Venice International Film Festival. More recently, she has joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Writers Branch in 2017.
Banietemad started her career by making documentaries and has never ended the strong connection she has had with her work. Making documentaries has been her main way of connecting with society and social issues. Her approach and depiction of social issues has been so strong and effective that her works have always resulted in causing change in the lives of her documentaries' subjects.
Mojtaba Mirtahmasb is a renowned Iranian documentary filmmaker. Having graduated with a BA in Craft Design from the Art University, he started making films in 1990. He has conducted research, written the script, directed and/or produced for more than 50 documentary films, including Touran Khanom (2018), Six Centuries Six Years (1998), This Is Not a Film (2011), Lady of the Roses (2008), Off Beat (2004), Back Vocal (2004), The River Still Has Fish (2001) and The Banner (1996). This Is Not a Film was the outcome of a directorial and production partnership with Jafar Panahi. It first premiered at the 64th Cannes Film Festival (Official Selection) and was on the short list for the best documentary for the 2012 Oscar.
Mirtahmasb has won many prizes including the Crystal Simorgh (Phoenix) and the Jury Award at the Fajr International Film Festival, the Special Jury Award at the Cinéma Vérité Film Festival, Best Documentary Film Award from the Grand Ceremony of the House of Cinema, the NETPAC Award, UNESCO Award for Best Documentary Film, and the Best Experimental Documentary Film award from the US National Society of Film Critics. Mirtahmasb was Member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association (IRDFA) for six years, serving two years as its chairperson. He is one of the founding members of the Tehran Province Documentary Filmmakers’ Guild. In recent years, alongside researching and directing his own films, he has conceived and produced film projects, chief among them the Karestan Documentary Film Series. The documentary series Master Class: New Page is his latest venture as director and producer.
Part of the Stanford Festival of Iranian Arts
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