US cinema theaters screen Iran film

American cinema theaters have started screening Iranian movie ‘Under the Smoky Roof’.

Directed by Pouran Derakhshandeh, ‘Under the Smoky Roof’ is being screened in American cinema theaters and film centers.

The movie, which best depicts social theme of divorce, narrates the story of a couple who live in a house which belongs to them, but while they are living there they have their own separate lives.

While American cinema theaters are screening the Iranian movie, Angelica Film Center in Washington DC screened the movie with the attendance of the director, Pouran Derakhshandeh, and some university students. In the review session held after the screening, Pouran Derakhshandeh answered to the student’s questions.

Born in 1951, Derakhshandeh is an Iranian script writer, producer and director who graduated from the Advanced School of Television and Cinema in 1975.

She began working for the national broadcaster as a documentarian, producing over 30 short films and documentaries about subjects such as the plague, recession, drug addiction, smuggling, traditional ceremonies, music from different parts of Iran, handicrafts of Kurdistan, the mineral springs of Haraz, thread, silk and wool, among others.

As the first female filmmaker following Iran’s Islamic Revolution, she made her directorial debut with ‘The Relationship’ in 1986. The film went on to win an award from the Italian Giffoney film festival.

In 1987, she was nominated for a Crystal Simorgh Best Director award at the Fajr International Film Festival for ‘Little Bird of Happiness’. The film received a certificate of merit and the Grand Prize at Argentina Women's Film Fest and the Golden Torch Prize from the Korean Film Fest.

In 2007, Derakhshandeh won Golden Butterflies for Best Film, Best Director and Best Artistic and Technical Achievement for ‘Forever Young’ (2006) from the 21st Children and Young Adults Film Festival. The film also won awards at the Baku East-West International Film Festival and the Venezuela film festival.

Her ‘Hush! Girls Don't Scream’ (2013) received the Audience Choice Crystal Simorgh in 2013.

Derakhshandeh has made movies ‘Candle in the Wind’ (2003), Tempestuous Youth (2005) and ‘Persisting Dreams’ (2009) as well.

She is a member of the International Center of Films for Children and Young People, American Association of Women in Film, American Association of Independent Feature Project and the deputy head of the Iranian Cinema Directors Association. She has also served on the jury panel for various domestic and international film festivals.

MMF/MG