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The 13th Boston Festival of Films from Iran and the Annual ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema, 2006.

Sponsored by the MFA Film Program, our most extensive showcase ever of contemporary Iranian cinema took place on November 10-December 3, 2006, at Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The festival started with Ceasefire, previous ILEX award winner Tamineh Milani’s hit comedy. The 18 film festival ended with an equally exciting program: the US premiere of Niki Karimi’s second feature, A Few Days Later…, a stunningly on-target look at the difficult life of an artistic woman in an overpaced world. Actress and director Niki Karimi received the eighth annual ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema. The festival also featured Karimi’s directorial debut, One Night. Also, Saba presented a concert with traditional Persian instruments. Saba performance made possible by a contribution from Lala Rokh.

Festival highlights

The Annual ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema, 2006.

Niki Karimi, acclaimed actor and director, received the Annual ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema at the festival. The festival marked the U.S premier of her new film. ILEX Foundation also honored Karimi at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with a special screening and reception.
Photo of Niki Karimi.

Boston premieres of recent films by previous ILEX Award winners:

Past ILEX award winner Fatemah Motamed-Aria stars in Mani Haghighi’s Men At Work, based on a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. Kiarostami’s new film Five, a visual meditation shot on the beautiful Caspian Sea.
Bahman Farmanara’s A Little Kiss is a tale of two writers, one an exile, the other a celebrated figure, take one last pilgrimage together. Also starring past ILEX award winner Fatemah Motamed-Aria.
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s Mainline, the dramatic follow-up to her 1995 addiction documentary.

Three fascinating and thought-provoking fims:

Academy Award–nominated director Majid Majidi’s The Willow Tree, an existential drama in which a man’s miraculously restored sight does not bring expected happiness.
When Fish Fall in Love, Ali Rafiee’s tale of passion expressed through the language of food.
Asghar Farhadi’s Fireworks Wednesday, a look at Iran’s class gap through the eyes of a young maid

Two directors from the Makhmalbaf Film House, past ILEX winner:

Marzieh Meshkini's Stray Dogs follows a brother and sister’s quest to join their imprisoned mother. Marzieh Meshkini’s previous films include The Day I Became a Woman.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Scream of the Ants explores the conflict between atheism and faith while following a couple on an Indian honeymoon.

Three documentary programs:

Sounds of Silence explores Iran’s underground rock and hip hop scene.
Tehran Has No More Pomegranates!, an ironic look at the city’s history.
Behjat Sadr, a look at one of Iran’s pioneering artists and Kamancheh, which follows players of this challenging traditional instrument.

Tapes and images are available.

All films produced in Iran and in Persian with English subtitles unless otherwise noted.

Highlights from this festival were shown at the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, Washington, DC (Jan 12–Feb 18) and in Houston at both the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Rice Cinema (Jan 19–Feb 11).

The Boston Festival of Films and Music from Iran is supported with a contribution from the ILEX Foundation and made possible with assistance from Olga Davidson and Niloo Fotouhi of the ILEX Foundation and with much guidance from film programmers Mimi Brody (UCLA Film and Television Archive), Barbara Scharres (Gene Siskel Film Center), and Alissa Simon (Facets Multimedia).

The media sponsor was The Boston Phoenix.

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