THAAP’s fifth day event of the screening of Iranian films at the Alhamra Arts Council was held on Tuesday morning. These films were presented by Iranian Dr Taraneh Yalda, an urban designer and a conservation architect, and architect Mehrdad Bahmani. The event showed a screening of three films in total, centered around the city of Tehran, so that its similarities with Lahore could be seen, not in terms of duplicity but in terms of similarity of culture.
The first film titled ‘From Tehran to Teran’ was about the history of Tehran and its architectural evolution through the ages. The second film was titled ‘Restoration and renovation of Tehran’s old parliament building’. This was in reference to the parliament building that was destroyed during the great fire of Tehran in 1993. The documentary comprehensively documented every step of the conservation and how the building was brought back to its former glory.
The third film was titled ‘Tehran Has No More Pomegranates’ which described the contemporary cultural situation of Iran before and after the Iranian revolution. Director Massoud Bakhshi shows Tehran from the Qajar time (middle of 19th century) to present. Tehran has become a metropolis from a small village, now a developed city with many social problems. It is a post-modern feature-length documentary offering a sarcastic and comic portrait of Iran’s capital city. Made over the span of five years, the film uses never-before-seen archival footage from the past 120 years, modern images of Tehran, and an amazing soundtrack to show the transformation of the city from a small village into a huge modern mega-city.
As the introduction to the film states, it is “a musical, historical, comedy, docu-drama, love story, experimental film” that uses style and subject to capture the chaotic and paradoxical soul of one of the most wonderful cities of the world.
The event was well attended by both teachers and heads of the participating institutes. On Wednesday, Thaap will once again screen more films, this time on Lahore and Pakistan as a whole.