Why Iran makes some of the best films?

Iranian cinema is popular around the world for its innocence, moral values, and poetic elegance with a focus on the importance of family and religion.

Even in Oscar-winning Iranian films ‘A Separation’ and ‘The Salesman’ all these elements are depicted, showing to the world how Iranians value such concepts at one of the most impressive film events–the Oscars.

The movies from Iran offer an entirely different picture as opposed to a picture of war depicted by the Western media. After the Islam Revolution, Iranian cinema showed its potential in terms of wholesome entertainment and art cinema. Before the Revolution, films--mostly known as “Persian flicks"--were made based on the cheap motto that “Sex Sells” with just a handful depicting social issues and human values.

Filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami and Majid Majidi started a trend in Iranian cinema after the Revolution with films having children in leading roles. Kiarostami’s ‘Where Is My Friend’s Home?’, Majid Majidi’s 'Baduk’, ‘Children of Heaven’, ‘Baran’ and ‘Songs of Sparrows’  were some great examples in this regard.

More than 40 years after the Revolution, Iran’s cinema has made it beyond expectations, with Oscars and other important awards from international festivals gained by Iranian filmmakers on a weekly basis, if not daily.  

Iran cinema is great due to inherent honesty, genuine emotional moments, and integrity. Such achievements were possible because of the Islamic viewpoint in Iranian cinema that a woman is not a commodity - the exact opposite of Hollywood movies where female objectification is in full swing.

In 2018, BBC launched a poll to find the greatest foreign-language films and to the astonishment of the channel’s masterminds and patrons,  Abbas Kiarostami ‘s ‘Close-Up’, ‘Where is the Friend’s Home?’ and ‘Taste of Cherry’ as well as Asghar Farhadi's ‘A Separation’  were on the list of the 100 international films.  While the channel wrote a review related to this poll with these movies in the limelight, there was no word about the impressive effect of the Islamic Revolution on making such films.  

AG/AG