Once Upon a Time, Cinema
Once Upon a Time, Cinema | |
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Naser al-din Shah, Actor of Cinema ناصرالدینشاه آکتور سینما | |
Directed by | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
Written by | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
Produced by | Mohammad Mehdi Dadgo |
Starring | Ezzatolah Entezami Mehdi Hashemi Akbar Abdi Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz Fatemeh Motamed-Arya |
Cinematography | Nemat Haghighi Faraj Heidari |
Edited by | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
Music by | Majid Entezami |
Production company | Jozan Film |
Distributed by | Facets Multimedia Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | Iran |
Language | Persian |
Once Upon a Time, Cinema (Persian: ناصرالدینشاه آکتور سینما, lit. 'Naser al-din Shah, Actor of Cinema') is a 1992 Iranian comedy fantasy film written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
The film includes clips from old Iranian films from the silent age onwards. Made in black-and-white (with a brief colour sequence), it parodies many of the conventions of silent slapstick comedy and early fantasy films.
Plot
The film follows a character known as The Cinematographer (
While watching the film
Meanwhile, the cinematographer is showing films to the Shah's wives. The Shah himself wants everyone to see Lor Girl. There is a big open-air showing. Other films are also shown, notably the vigilante revenge drama Qeysar (1969). The vigilante hero comes out of the film. The Shah talks to him about using him against his enemies and confesses that his one true love in the harem was killed by his other jealous wives. Now he only dreams of Golnar. Meanwhile, disturbed by the disruptive power of cinema, the Shah's advisors meet to discuss how to censor this dangerous medium.
The Shah asks the cinematographer to turn him into Jafar, the hero of Lor Girl, to win Golnar's love. The cinematographer uses his cinema magic on him but instead turns the Shah into the protagonist of The Cow (1969), a film about a man believes he is a cow. He then instructs him to pull a plough to help a poor family. The cinematographer is arrested and condemned for insulting the Shah. As he is about to be executed, the full power of cinema is unleashed, blowing the court away. The film moves into colour, ending in a series of clips of people embracing.
Cast
- Ezzatolah Entezami as Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
- Mehdi Hashemi
- Akbar Abdi
- Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz
- Fatemeh Motamed-Arya
Accolades and interpretations
Naser-ed-din Shah won two Special Jury Prizes from the
Makhmalbaf later said that the film formed the first part of a trilogy about cinema and society. Once Upon a Time, Cinema dealt with cinema and political power. Of later films in the trilogy, Hello Cinema and The Actor, the first dealt with cinema and the people, the second with cinema and the artist.[2]
References
- ^ "Once Upon a Time, Cinema". Makhmalbaf Film house. Archived from the original on May 1, 2006. Retrieved April 28, 2006.
- ^ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Cinema of the Other: A Personal Journey With Film-makers from the Middle East And Central Asia, Intellect Books, 2006, pp.67-68.