While we think today of Iranian cinema in terms of the brilliant poetic quality of international arthouse auteurs like Kiarostami and Panahi and others, clearly, as evidenced by these posters I found in the basement of the Museum of Cinema in Tehran, they once had a thriving genre cinema that would've made Quentin Tarantino happy.
I love these vintage posters.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures, they were hastily taken on the tour and I couldn't eliminate the glare from the frames.
I saw that the company PARSFILM had a credit on many of these productions which apparently dated from the 1950's and wanting to learn more about it, I came across an article by Massoud Mehrabi about the history of Iranian cinema which filled in some of the backstory, albeit from the perspective of a writer who clearly doesn't share Tarantino's taste for low-brow or "disreputable" commercial cinema:
A highly influential figure in Iranian cinema, during a long life Esmail Kushan was the photographer, director or producer of tens of films, and when old age confined him to the overall management of his studio, his sons faithfully followed in their father's footsteps. In fact Kushan's brand of filmmaking was more or less accurately adopted by all commercial producers. His film empire in Parsfilm, near Tehran, was pulled down a few years ago, but his spirit continues to dominate Iranian cinema.
After a twelve-year hibernation the Iranian cinema rose to a fresh start with redoubled energy as if trying to make up for the lost years. Although only four films were released by Parsfilm from 1948 to 1950, annual production soared to seven films in 1951, of which five were first productions of five newly founded studios, and to eleven in the following year. The box office success of Iranian films attracted more people to the industry and more studios sprang up. The new bloom in the industry brought forth nineteen films from ten studios in 1953.
Most of the cinematic output of that year were produced after the August 19, 1953 CIA-engineered coup d'etat which led to the suppression of the Shah's opponents. The coup provided the producers with the political stability they needed. The type of themes treated in films changed and the domination of Iranian cinema by popular dance and music began. The general cultural policies adopted by the Shah's regime from 1953 onward encouraged the brand of filmmaking that was allowed to be entertaining without stimulating serious thinking. It was a commercial run-of-the-mill industry referred to by the critics as "Filmfarsi", a derogatory term coined by the veteran film critic and historian, Dr. H.Kavoosi, designating inane commercial filmmaking as distinct from serious Iranian cinema.
Most of the cinematic output of that year were produced after the August 19, 1953 CIA-engineered coup d'etat which led to the suppression of the Shah's opponents. The coup provided the producers with the political stability they needed. The type of themes treated in films changed and the domination of Iranian cinema by popular dance and music began. The general cultural policies adopted by the Shah's regime from 1953 onward encouraged the brand of filmmaking that was allowed to be entertaining without stimulating serious thinking. It was a commercial run-of-the-mill industry referred to by the critics as "Filmfarsi", a derogatory term coined by the veteran film critic and historian, Dr. H.Kavoosi, designating inane commercial filmmaking as distinct from serious Iranian cinema.
During the decade (1953-63) the history of Iranian cinema presents no event of major significance. Public screens catered to the tastes of the mass audience with mass productions of utter worthlessness, and no sign of any rejuvenation or emergence of new talents brightened the prospects. Under the circumstances any hope for the birth of an avant-garde cinema for an intellectual elite would have been highly unrealistic. The rigorous censorship imposed after the 1953 coup d'etat made it impossible for the intelligentsia to dictate its elitist modes of thinking to people through a mass medium such as cinema.
Funny to see the art versus commerce argument play out in the history of Iranian cinema as it has in ours, albeit with different variations and complicating factors.
"Filmfarsi" might be the perfect derogatory term for the "mass productions of utter worthlessness" that are our daily bread here today; or perhaps we should say "film-farce-y" in English?
william
I'm so glad you took those photographs. These posters are beautiful. I can't read a lick of farsi, but I always found the words visually beautiful.
Posted by: dutchbaby | March 25, 2009 at 06:25 AM
never mind the glass - those posters are AWESOME! i love the styling and the graphics... those are a real find!
Posted by: estelluxx | March 26, 2009 at 08:09 AM
I totally agree, these posters are great. Thank you for sharing
Posted by: Miss b | March 28, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Thanks, for the article. Mr. Mehrabi is a post Islamic revolution film critic and his articles about Esmail Koushan is bias.
Posted by: Kambiz Koushan | August 17, 2009 at 06:55 PM
I'm looking for a cute movie with Koushan Esmail Director of the ferhat fakhreddin players could not find a place in this film at all, please send me an e-mail
Posted by: fakhreddin | November 20, 2010 at 02:20 AM
I'm looking for a cute movie with Koushan Esmail Director of the ferhat fakhreddin players could not find a place in this film at all, please send me an e-mail
cuneyt-2010@hotmail.com
Posted by: fakhradin.... | November 20, 2010 at 02:40 AM