October 18, 2001
Contact:
Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: October 18, 2001
MIDDLEBURY,
VT - A symposium titled “A Glimpse Behind the Veil:
Culture and Cinema in the Islamic Republic of Iran” will
take place at Middlebury College Nov. 1-3. Activities will
include lectures, film screenings, a dinner, and a musical
performance. All events are open to the public.
On Thursday,
Nov. 1, at 4:30 p.m., the symposium will begin with two
talks followed by an open discussion. Negin Nabavi,
assistant professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton
University, will discuss “Cinema, Politics and Society in
the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Her lecture will be followed
by a talk titled “From Kiarostami to Panahi: Master-Disciple
in Iranian Cinema” given by Hamid Dabashi, associate
professor of Persian literature and sociology of cultures at
Columbia University, and the author of “Close-Up: Iranian
Cinema Past, Present, Future.” The event will take place in
Dana Auditorium in Sunderland Language Center on College
Street (Route 125).
The
symposium will continue at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, with
a lecture titled “Private Lives and Public Images in Iran”
given by Christiane Bird, author of “Neither East Nor West:
One Woman’s Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The event will take place in the conference room of the
Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street
(Route 125).
At 6:15
p.m., a slide presentation about Iranian culture will
accompany a Middle Eastern dinner in McCullough Student
Center on Old Chapel Road off South Main Street (Route
30).
The dinner
will be followed by a performance of classical Persian music
by Kazem Davoudian, who will play the santur, a classical
Persian stringed instrument, and percussionist Behrouz
Jamali. The concert will be at 8:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall
of the Center for the Arts on South Main Street (Route
30).
On Saturday,
Nov. 3, the symposium will conclude with two feature films,
which are also part of the College’s Hirschfield Film/Video
Series. At 3 p.m., there will be a screening of “The Wind
Will Carry Us” (1999), which tells the story of a journalist
who travels with his crew to a remote Kurdistan village to
covertly shoot a rare funeral rite. However, the dying woman
lingers, and the deathwatch leads the urban visitors into a
confrontation with village life. Directed by Iran’s well
known filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, “The Wind Will Carry Us”
was called “a stunningly lyrical and eloquent exploration of
both rural village life and the nature of artistic
responsibility” by The New York Times.
At 8 p.m.,
there will be a screening of “The Circle” (2000) directed by
Jafar Panahi. The film addresses a central concern of the
Iranian women’s movement?called the “woman problem” by some
residents of Iran. “The Circle” opens with the birth of a
baby girl, it then follows three women released from prison,
and witnesses an unmarried woman seeking an abortion. The
women’s spirits endure in the course of their struggle to
survive. The film won six awards at the 2000 Venice Film
Festival, including the Golden Lion Prize. “The Circle” has
been banned in Iran.
Both films
are in Farsi with English subtitles and will be screened in
Sunderland Language Center’s Dana Auditorium on College
Street (Route 125).
All symposium events are free, except the Nov. 2 dinner,
which is $3 for students and $5 for adults. Tickets for
dinner are available at the door or in advance from
symposium organizer Wasim Rahman at 802-443-4251. For more
information, contact Rahman at wrahman@middlebury.edu
or 802-443-4251, or visit the Middlebury College Web site at
http://community.middlebury.edu/~islamic/
for directions and a program.
To follow is
an events calendar listing:
Nov.
1-3
A Glimpse
Behind the Veil:
Culture and Cinema in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Thursday, Nov. 1
4:30 p.m.
Two lectures followed by an open discussion: “Cinema,
Politics and Society in the Islamic Republic of Iran” by
Negin Nabavi, assistant professor of Near Eastern studies at
Princeton University. This talk will be followed by “From
Kiarostami to Panahi: Master-Disciple in Iranian Cinema” by
Hamid Dabashi, associate professor of Persian literature and
sociology of cultures at Columbia University, and the author
of “Close-Up: Iranian Cinema Past, Present, Future.”
Dana Auditorium, Sunderland Language Center, Middlebury
College, College Street (Route 125)
Free
Friday,
Nov. 2
4:30 p.m.
Lecture: “Private Lives and Public Images in Iran” by
Christiane Bird, author of “Neither East Nor West: One
Woman’s Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran”
Conference room of the Robert A. Jones House, Middlebury
College, Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)
Free
6:15
p.m.
Middle Eastern dinner and slide presentation about Iranian
culture
Middlebury College McCullough Student Center
Old Chapel Road off South Main Street (Route 30)
Tickets for dinner are $3 for students and $5 for adults and
are available at the door or in advance from symposium
organizer Wasim Rahman at 802-443-4251.
8:30
p.m.
Concert: Classical Persian music by Kazem Davoudian, who
will play the santur, a classical Persian stringed
instrument, and percussionist Behrouz Jamali
Concert Hall of the Middlebury College Center for the Arts
on South Main Street (Route 30)
Free
Saturday, Nov. 3
3 p.m.
Feature film: “The Wind Will Carry Us” (1999) tells the
story of a journalist who travels with his crew to a remote
Kurdistan village to covertly shoot a rare funeral rite.
However, the dying woman lingers, and the deathwatch leads
the urban visitors into a confrontation with village life.
Directed by Iran’s well known filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami,
“The Wind Will Carry Us” was called “a stunningly lyrical
and eloquent exploration of both rural village life and the
nature of artistic responsibility” by The New York
Times.
In Farsi with English subtitles
Sunderland Language Center’s Dana Auditorium, Middlebury
College, College Street (Route 125)
Free
8 p.m.
Feature film: There will be a screening of “The Circle”
(2000) directed by Jafar Panahi. The film addresses a
central concern of the Iranian women’s movement?called the
“woman problem” by some residents of Iran. “The Circle”
opens with the birth of a baby girl, it then follows three
women released from prison, and witnesses an unmarried woman
seeking an abortion. The women’s spirits endure in the
course of their struggle to survive. The film won six awards
at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, including the Golden Lion
Prize. “The Circle” has been banned in Iran.
In Farsi with English subtitles
Sunderland Language Center’s Dana Auditorium, Middlebury
College, College Street (Route 125)
Free