LIST

영화 정보

Santuri

Special Programs in Focus

Social Criticism · Music/Dance · Tradition

CountryIran
Production Year2007
Running Time107min
Format35mm
ColorCOLOR

Program Note

Mehrjui who meditates on Iranian culture and society through film questions the meaning of life and means to salvage oneself through a young, drug-addicted musician, Ali. He is a singer and player of Santuri, a traditional instrument of Iran. He had fame and love but his life took a fall when he started doing drugs. The director questions through the voice of a character in this film that if there is any musician in Iran who doesn’t drink or do drugs that it is the fault of society, not the corruption of an individual. She takes much time describing the desperate and tragic life of Ali as a homeless man for that reason. Even his wife leaves him and he makes an attempt at rehabilitation by teaching people how to play Santuri in order to save himself. For its accusation against the nation regarding drug addiction, the film was banned from screening in Iran. (Mina Oak)

Director

Darioush Mehrjui

Born in Tehran in 1939, Dariush Mehrjui left for California to study cinema but graduated with a philosophy degree from UCLA. His second feature, The Cow (1970), brought him national and international recognition and signaled the emergence of Iranian New Cinema. Banned by the Shah’s censors, the film was smuggled to the 1971 Venice Film Festival where it received the Critics Award. As an Iranian New Wave cinema icon, Mehrjui is regarded to be one of the intellectual directors of Iranian cinema. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adopted based on Iranian and foreign novels and plays. From 1992, Mehrjui started his female-character films; 4 films in 6 years all dealing with the woman characters and -heir obsessions in the urban societies. Dariush Mehrjui′s films have already received 49 national and international awards.

Credit