Fri April 25, 2014
Manuscripts Don’t Burn, Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, 2013)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
(see times)
San Francisco International Film Festival @ BAM/PFA
Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof has rooted his remarkable career in an aesthetically wide-ranging critique of censorship and authoritarian rule in his native Iran, a project embracing everything from documentary (Head Wind, 2008) to surreal allegory (The White Meadows, SFIFF 2010) to hard-edged realism (Goodbye, SFIFF 2012). That unflinching effort has earned him extensive censorship himself—none of his films can officially screen in Iran—as well as a much-publicized arrest and prison sentence in 2010, simultaneous with that of fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Rasoulof here extends his uncompromising body of work with a taut, finely woven drama based on real-life events. Shot covertly in Iran, the story revolves around two overlapping centers: a desperate father who seeks money for his ailing child through work as a contract killer; and a small circle of aging writers menaced by the secret service, in the person of a powerful agent with much to lose by the threatened publication of certain manuscripts. A cat-and-mouse game ensues against a backdrop of generational amnesia and popular indifference, as brutality overwhelms conscience and despotism haunts the oblivious streets.
—Robert Avila
• Written by Rasoulof. (127 mins)
show less
Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof has rooted his remarkable career in an aesthetically wide-ranging critique of censorship and authoritarian rule in his native Iran, a project embracing everything from documentary (Head Wind, 2008) to surreal allegory (The White Meadows, SFIFF 2010) to hard-edged realism (Goodbye, SFIFF 2012). That unflinching effort has earned him extensive censorship himself—none of his films can officially screen in Iran—as well as a much-publicized arrest and prison sentence in 2010, simultaneous with that of fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Rasoulof here extends his uncompromising body of work with a taut, finely woven drama based on real-life events. Shot covertly in Iran, the story revolves around two overlapping centers: a desperate father who seeks money for his ailing child through work as a contract killer; and a small circle of aging writers menaced by the secret service, in the person of a powerful agent with much to lose by the threatened publication of certain manuscripts. A cat-and-mouse game ensues against a backdrop of generational amnesia and popular indifference, as brutality overwhelms conscience and despotism haunts the oblivious streets.
—Robert Avila
• Written by Rasoulof. (127 mins)
San Francisco International Film Festival @ BAM/PFA
Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof has rooted his remarkable career in an aesthetically wide-ranging critique of censorship and authoritarian rule in his native Iran, a project embracing everything from documentary (Head Wind, 2008) to surreal allegory (The White Meadows, SFIFF 2010) to hard-edged realism (Goodbye, SFIFF 2012). That unflinching effort has earned him extensive censorship himself—none of his films can officially screen in Iran—as well as a much-publicized arrest and prison sentence in 2010, simultaneous with that of fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Rasoulof here extends his uncompromising body of work with a taut, finely woven drama based on real-life events. Shot covertly in Iran, the story revolves around two overlapping centers: a desperate father who seeks money for his ailing child through work as a contract killer; and a small circle of aging writers menaced by the secret service, in the person of a powerful agent with much to lose by the threatened publication of certain manuscripts. A cat-and-mouse game ensues against a backdrop of generational amnesia and popular indifference, as brutality overwhelms conscience and despotism haunts the oblivious streets.
—Robert Avila
• Written by Rasoulof. (127 mins)
read more
Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof has rooted his remarkable career in an aesthetically wide-ranging critique of censorship and authoritarian rule in his native Iran, a project embracing everything from documentary (Head Wind, 2008) to surreal allegory (The White Meadows, SFIFF 2010) to hard-edged realism (Goodbye, SFIFF 2012). That unflinching effort has earned him extensive censorship himself—none of his films can officially screen in Iran—as well as a much-publicized arrest and prison sentence in 2010, simultaneous with that of fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Rasoulof here extends his uncompromising body of work with a taut, finely woven drama based on real-life events. Shot covertly in Iran, the story revolves around two overlapping centers: a desperate father who seeks money for his ailing child through work as a contract killer; and a small circle of aging writers menaced by the secret service, in the person of a powerful agent with much to lose by the threatened publication of certain manuscripts. A cat-and-mouse game ensues against a backdrop of generational amnesia and popular indifference, as brutality overwhelms conscience and despotism haunts the oblivious streets.
—Robert Avila
• Written by Rasoulof. (127 mins)
show less
Date/Times:
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
The Best Events
Every Week in Your Inbox
From Our Sponsors
UPCOMING EVENTS
Great suggestion! We'll be in touch.
Event reviewed successfully.