{"product_id":"eclipse-series-47-abbas-kiarostami-early-shorts-and-features-blu-ray","title":"Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features (BLU-RAY)","description":"\u003cp\u003eLong before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBread and Alley\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e(which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eExperience\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Traveler;\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eand nonfiction masterpieces such as\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHomework,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ethe graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis release features 2K restorations undertaken by MK2 in collaboration with L’Immagine Ritrovata.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"header_lvl2\"\u003eFilms In This Set\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBread and Alley\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The mother of all my films,” according to Abbas Kiarostami, starts out as a breezily observed anecdote about a boy wending his way home through Tehran alleys carrying a loaf of bread. Variations on both the boy and the old man he sees and begins to follow will factor into future Kiarostami films, as will the use of “dead time,” the journey structure, and the poetic articulation of space. The final scene, involving a dog and a door, ends things on a note of wry ambiguity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBreaktime\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDisciplined at school for breaking a window, a boy joins throngs of his schoolmates as they make a cacophonous exit into Tehran’s streets. He then briefly joins an impromptu soccer game but disrupts it by stealing the ball and running away, and ends up drifting aimlessly along a busy highway. Free of dialogue but using nonsynchronous concrete sound throughout, this moody film shows Abbas Kiarostami expanding his visual vocabulary with zooms and crane and helicopter shots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExperience\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on a story by Amir Naderi, who also cowrote the film, this slice of a fourteen-year-old boy’s life follows his efforts to fend for himself in the big city, working as a tea server and assistant in a photographer’s studio, running errands, and, briefly, exchanging glances with a pretty middle-class girl. With no music and little dialogue, and distinguished by its darkly elegant compositions, the film offers an impressionistic meditation on adolescent solitude.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Traveler\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbbas Kiarostami’s first feature focuses on a boy in a provincial city so avid to get to Tehran to see a soccer match that he’ll lie to adults and cheat other kids. A quest film that’s also a study of youthful obsession, it’s filmed in edgy black and white with a quiet energy that matches its hero’s.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Traveler\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ehas an acridly ironic ending and one of the best performances by a child in Kiarostami’s early work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo Solutions for One Problem\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis simple moral tale seems to prefigure\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhere Is the Friend’s House?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTwo young schoolboys, Dara and Nader, are friends until Dara returns Nader’s notebook torn and Nader retaliates in kind, setting off an escalating battle that leads to destruction of property and physical injury. In the second solution, Dara realizes his offense and repairs the notebook, preserving the peace and the friendship. The film is shot mostly in close-ups, with a narrator drolly chronicling the action.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSo Can I\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first of Abbas Kiarostami’s films made for, rather than about, children was an experiment in combining live action and animation, done in collaboration with animator Nafiseh Riahi. As two schoolboys watch animated views of animals’ actions—kangaroos jumping, fish swimming, etc.—one boy (played by Riahi’s son Kamal) says, “I can, too,” and imitates the actions. The music is sprightly, the mood fun. The second boy is Kiarostami’s son Ahmad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eColors\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOstensibly a film for children, this picture-book essay about the range of hues that brighten our world has the air of a delightfully playful formalistic exercise. As a narrator runs though the colors one by one, Abbas Kiarostami shows us where each appears in nature and human life (which occasions some great views of prerevolutionary consumer culture in Iran). Of course, a little boy is featured—in one memorable sequence, he fantasizes about being a race-car driver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Wedding Suit\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a trilevel shopping arcade, a teenage boy who works for a tailor is besieged by two other boys who want to borrow a new suit to wear on a social outing before it’s turned over to its owner. One of the most accomplished and intricately plotted of Abbas Kiarostami’s Kanoon films, this sharply observed drama contains suspense, satire, an undercurrent of violence, and even a magic show.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTribute to Teachers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn assignment from Iran’s Ministry of Education, this documentary from the last years of the Pahlavi dynasty includes interviews with officials who predictably praise teaching as a sacred, noble, and honorable profession. The teachers who are also interviewed are less starry-eyed; one speaks of ungrateful students and the job’s poor pay. The contrasting views express Abbas Kiarostami’s interest in education while registering some of his reservations about how it is practiced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSolution No. 1\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rare Kanoon film that doesn’t involve children, this unusual road movie was made during the revolution and afforded Abbas Kiarostami what may have been a welcome escape from the capital. Shot amid spectacular mountain scenery north of Tehran, it shows a young man on a roadside with a tire, trying to get a ride. After several minutes of failure, he simply takes the tire and rolls it down the mountain, a lyrical visual journey that’s accompanied by a triumphal score.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Case, Second Case\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMade in the spring of 1979, not long after the shah’s overthrow, this extraordinary film serves as a Rorschach blot for people in a revolutionary mindset. Abbas Kiarostami stages two versions of a classroom-discipline situation—in one, a student tells on a troublemaker; in the other, seven students refuse to rat—and then has several adult authorities comment on the outcomes. The fascinating responses evoke conflicts between order and resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eToothache\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough much of this film by Abbas Kiarostami is a straightforward lecture about dental hygiene delivered by a dentist facing the camera, it still manages to be persuasively Kiarostami-esque in its description of young Mohammad-Reza’s life at home and school before he falls prey to tooth woes. (Kiarostami found the boy having a tooth removed, then filmed the earlier parts of the story later.) That some audiences find the film hilarious testifies to the humor that can accompany great discomfort.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOrderly or Disorderly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first shot shows students descending a staircase in calm, orderly fashion, then the second details the same action as a chaotic rush. Separated by slates and director Abbas Kiarostami’s voice intoning, “Sound, camera,” subsequent sequences describe the same dichotomous behavior in a schoolyard, on a school bus, and in the haphazard traffic of Tehran. Kiarostami described this as “a truly educational film,” but it plays more like a quirky philosophic aside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Chorus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn old man strolls through the noisy streets of Rasht, and when his hearing aid is knocked out of his ear, the film’s sound goes off, mimicking the silence that envelops him. At home, the same thing happens when he takes the device out, and Abbas Kiarostami intercuts his silent actions with the clamor of schoolgirls who try to get his attention from outside. Another Kiarostami meditation on the contrasts of silence and sound, age and youth, solitude and solidarity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFellow Citizen\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbbas Kiarostami’s fascination with both Tehrani car culture and the uses of power in postrevolutionary society combine in this documentary about a traffic officer assigned to enforce driving restrictions in central Tehran (a locale near the director’s office at Kanoon). The officer, a rock star in his own world, remains coolly authoritative as he faces a steady stream of exasperated motorists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Graders\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by his work at Kanoon and his own sons’ schooling, the first of Abbas Kiarostami’s two documentary features about education looks in on a schoolyard of chanting, playful boys but mainly transpires in the office of a supervisor who has to deal with latecomers and discipline problems. You can almost see the boys’ personalities forming in their first encounters with authorities and peers outside the home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cheader class=\"product-detail-header\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-detail-title\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header__primarytitle\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHomework\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Abbas Kiarostami’s second documentary feature about education, the filmmaker himself asks the questions, probing a succession of invariably cute first- and second-graders about their home situations and the schoolwork they must do there. It emerges that many parents are illiterate. Tellingly, many kids can define punishment (the corporal variety seems common) but not encouragement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"header_lvl2 hideSmall\"\u003eSpecial Features\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn essay by critic Ehsan Khoshbakht\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Criterion Collection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44749681688776,"sku":"CCECL217BD","price":92.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0598\/8486\/3688\/files\/abbaskiarostamiearlyshortsandfeaturesbd.jpg?v=1756513255","url":"https:\/\/videomatica.com\/es\/products\/eclipse-series-47-abbas-kiarostami-early-shorts-and-features-blu-ray","provider":"Videomatica Ltd (since 1983)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}