25th Houston Iranian Film Festival: 24 Frames (screening at MFAH)

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Houston Iranian Film Festival, established by the MFAH and Rice Cinema. January 19 – February 3, 2018. Screenings take place at both venues, as well as at Asia Society Texas Center.

24 Frames

Director – Abbas Kiarostami
Released – 2017
Country – Iran/France
Running Time – 114 minutes

24 Frames is a contemplative photo-film essay started by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami and, after his death in 2016, completed by his son Ahmad. The film is comprised of short vignettes based on photographs Abbas took over 40 years.

Upon its premiere at Cannes, Barbara Scharres wrote on rogerebert.com, “These sequences are breathtaking in the beauty of the photography, and startling in the acuteness and vibrant curiosity of the vision. Each is a mini-drama evolving in its own time. Kiarostami’s love of snowy landscapes, the sea, the forces of nature, and his fascination with the unsentimental drama of the animal world bring home the intelligence and patient vision of the artist behind the camera.”

Houston’s Iranian Film Festival has shown many of Kiarostami’s films in its history, from the groundbreaking early feature Where Is the Friend’s Home? through his international successes including Through the Olive Trees, Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Certified Copy.

“24 Frames is an exquisite reverie on scenes from nature. Through still, but precise frames, and aided by subtle staging or effects, he captures the haunting, haiku-like poetry of nature, its beauty, amorousness and brutality. The play with the double meaning of ‘frame’ reflects his profound mediation on the cinematic form.” —Variety

• Read an interview with Ahmad Kiarostami.

This film also screens at Rice Media Center on February 2.