Director
Ehsan Khoshbakht
Producer
Mary Dawtrey
Producer
Adam Dawtrey
Doc Society Support
Production support
Film Details
Format: Feature length film
After the Iranian Revolution, a movie collector hid thousands of films in basements around Tehran, preventing their destruction by the new Islamic regime. Despite his arrest and torture, he refused to give up his secret. His quixotic story is told by the student who became his partner in crime, recollected many years later from exile in London. A coming-of-age thriller about oppression, resistance, and the subversive power of celluloid dreams.
Subjects
Politics Human Rights Society
Awards & Festivals
Awards
Festival Screenings
Reviews
The passion of cinephilia is the subject of this absorbing personal essay movie from Iranian critic and film historian Ehsan Khoshbakht... who narrates the film in a style that reminded me a little of Mark Cousins and also perhaps Werner Herzog.
A film that showcases love for cinema as a tool of political resistance against religious fundamentalism and autocracy.
[A] lyrical and very personal essay...
The moody texture of the film is enhanced further by Ekkehard Wölk’s gorgeous jazz score.
Khoshbakht’s personal insights are what make Celluloid Underground really sing, reassuring us that the idea of cinema and its power to make us feel will remain, even after we are gone.
Gallery
