"When Satyajit Ray died, I was quite depressed, but after watching Kiarostami's films, I thought God had found the right person to take his place." -Akira Kurosawa

The work of one of the leading figures in contemporary international cinema, the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, will be honored February 6-27 at the Walker Art Center. Abbas Kiarostami: In Retrospect begins with the area premiere of Taste of Cherry, Kiarostami's latest feature film and winner of the coveted Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, at 7 and 9 pm on Friday, February 6, in the Walker Auditorium. The series also includes Close-Up, which Werner Herzog called, "The greatest documentary on filmmaking I have ever seen;" Through the Olive Trees; and And Life Goes On . . . ; as well as a selection of Kiarostami's short films. The retrospective closes on Friday, February 27, at 8 pm with a Regis Dialogue between Kiarostami and New York Film Festival director Richard Peña, in which the two discuss Kiarostami's filmmaking and screen excerpts from several of his past films and his newest feature.

While Kiarostami has worked in film since the 1960s, making his first short film in 1970, it was not until the early 1990s that he achieved international critical success with the completion of his trilogy of films: Where Is The Friend's House? , And Life Goes On, and Through the Olive Trees. The trilogy earned him festival honors and an Oscar nomination and brought the Iranian New Wave to international attention. He wrote the script for Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon which won the 1995 Camera d'Or at Cannes, and his most recent film, Taste of Cherry, has confirmed Kiarostami's status as one of the world's major film artists. Awards aside, Kiarostami's achievement is to have created a cinema that combines the humanistic virtues of Italian neorealism with the postmodern rigors of style and storytelling that represent the apex of art in film today.

All films are directed by Abbas Kiarostami and are in Farsi with English subtitles. Tickets for the Regis Filmmaker's Dialogue are $8 (*$4). Tickets for the retrospective screenings are $6 ($3) each evening. Call the Walker box office at (612) 375-7622 (voice); (612) 375-7585 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). Accommodations for visitors with special needs are available upon request.
($) = Walker members and AFDC cardholders

Funding for this series has been provided by the Regis Foundation. Special programming assistance was provided by Nancy Gerstman at Zeitgeist Films, Bill Horrigan and Dave Filipi of the Wexner Center for the Arts, Alissa Simon of the Film Center, and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media. The text of the film synopsis are courtesy the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI: IN RETROSPECT
FEBRUARY 6-27

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 7 AND 9 PM
AREA PREMIERE
Taste of Cherry
The retrospective begins with Kiarostami's most recent film Taste of Cherry , winner of the top prize at Cannes this past year. The film focuses on a controversial subject in its chronicle of a middle-aged man's journey through the dusty suburbs of Teheran looking for someone to help him commit suicide. What emerges is a beautiful parable that celebrates the value of every single human life, and regrets the spiritual void left in the wake of those who part from us too soon. 1997, Iran, 95 minutes.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 7 PM
So I Can
Two little boys sit watching a cartoon featuring animals. With each scene, one of them pipes out, "I can, too," then mimes the animals' behavior. But the two are struck dumb at the sight of a bird in flight. 1975, Iran, 4 minutes.

Where Is the Friend's House?
Awarded the Bronze Leopard at the 1989 Locarno Film Festival, Where Is the Friend's House? confirmed Kiarostami as Iran's most popular director. He frequently uses children as protagonists, and his treatment of them is always enlightening, because through them he embraces the human condition in general. In this film we follow a boy through the streets of a northern Iranian village as he tries to return a crucial notebook to his best friend. 1987, Iran, 90 minutes.

Regular Or Irregular
A sense of order makes for good social organization. To demonstrate this axiom, Kiarostami presents a series of playlets in groups of twos. A single action is first performed in an organized manner, then again in an anarchic fashion. But the film crew encounters difficulties in organizing the chaos and finally abandons its reportage in the face of the unruly traffic at a Teheran intersection. 1981, Iran, 17 minutes.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 7 AND 9 PM
Close-Up
"The greatest documentary on filmmaking I have ever seen." -Werner Herzog

A young man introduces himself as Mohsen Makhmalbaf (celebrated director of The Cyclist, Salaam Cinema, and Gabbeh) and enters intimately into the life of a family, under the pretext that he's working on a film project and scouting interesting locations. Deeply suspicious of the stranger, the father investigates, leading to the con-artist's exposure and arrest. At this stage, Kiarostami and his film crew enter the story to film the impostor's trial. Events preceding the young man's arrest are reconstructed, starring the real people who played parts in the scenario. An insightful exploration of the nature of truth and movie-dreams with a distinctly off-beat sense of humor throughout. 1990, Iran, 100 minutes.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 7 PM
Solution
A youth trying to hitchhike back to his car with a new tire can't get a ride even on a heavily traveled road. Fed up, he decides to walk, rolling the tire ahead of him. His journey takes him through a countryside so lovely he arrives at his destination utterly enchanted. 1978, Iran, 11 minutes.

Through the Olive Trees
The final part of Kiarostami's celebrated trilogy, Through the Olive Trees looks at the making of Where Is the Friend's House? from a quiet, cumulatively hilarious angle, which evokes at times an Iranian variant on Truffaut's Day for Night. A lovely comedy of errors about filmmaking, Through the Olive Trees vividly reveals the director's remarkable feeling for landscape and his warm, witty grasp of human idiosyncrasy. 1994, Iran, 103 minutes.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 7 PM
And Life Goes On . . .
After the earthquake that devastated northern Iran in 1990, a filmmaker and his son try to drive to the village of Koker, located in the heart of the devastated area. Searching for two youths who played in his film Where Is the Friend's House?, the director runs into all sorts of difficulties as he shows stills from Kiarostami's film in hopes of someone identifying the lost boys. At last, the artist comes to understand that life--like the movies--reels splendidly on. 1992, Iran, 91 minutes.

Two Solutions For One Problem
Two young boys are classmates. When Nader returns his friend's notebook, the cover of which he has accidentally torn, the other is faced with two possibilities. Either he can quickly take revenge, or the two can look for a solution together, glue the book back together, and remain good pals. 1975, Iran, 5 minutes.

REGIS FILMMAKER'S DIALOGUE
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI WITH RICHARD PEÑA
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 8 PM
In the closing program of the series, New York Film Festival director Richard Peña discusses filmmaking with director Abbas Kiarostami and screens excerpts from several of his past films and his new feature, Taste of Cherry.

RELATED EVENT

LECTURE WITH RICHARD PEÑA
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA: THE STATE OF THE ART
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 7 PM
$6 ($3) AUDITORIUM
Richard Peña reflects on contemporary world cinema and explores the ways by which international cinema arrives in the United States.