The 37th Fajr International Film Festival plans to show a newly-found footage from behind the scene of The Cow, Dariush Mehrjui’s compelling symbolic drama.
According to Ladan Taheri, director of the Iranian National Film Archive, the rare footage includes the testing of players for the film on location, which shows the rural impoverishment that existed under the Shah of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Taheri says a digitally restored footage of The Cow will also hit the silver screen during this year’s Classics Preserved section of Fajr, which is concurrent with the 50th anniversary of the film’s first release. Most of the testing and makeup works took place at the main venue of the present Culture Ministry. The actors include the late Jamshid Mashayekhi, Ezzatollah Entezami and Jafar Vaali. Others include Ali Nasirian and Mahmoud Dolatabadi.
The Cow is a 1969 Iranian film, written by Gholam-Hossein Saedi based on his own play and novel. Critics widely consider it the first film of the Iranian New Wave. It won Best Film Award La Rochelle 1994, OCIC Award – Recommendation – Forum of New Film 22nd Berlin International Film Festival 1972, FIPRESCI Prize 32nd Venice International Film Festival 1971, Best Actor Award Chicago International Film Festival 1971, and Award for Best Screenplay Sepas Film Festival 1970.
The Classics Preserved section will also present cinema premiere of 5 restored Iranian films. Among the premieres will be The Runner (Amir Naderi), The Scout (Ebrahim Hatamikia), The Spell (Dariush Farhang), Frosty Roads (Masoud Jafari Jozani), and The Last Action (Varuzh Karim-Masihi).
Presided over by award-winning writer and director Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi, the 37th edition of Fajr International Film Festival will be held in Tehran on April 18-26. For further information, please visit our website at www.fajriff.com, or send us an email at info@fajriff.com. We ask you to carefully read the Festival’s general guidelines for submission and participation.
