Cinema Tehran at the Roxy

Cinema Tehran is a pop-up cinematheque inspired by the era of 1970s cinemas in Iran’s capital.
This project represents the reemergence of the spirit of the metropolitan theaters of Tehran, and
is the continuation of the cult dance party and concert series hosted by Disco Tehran. Each
Cinema Tehran session features a multi-cultural selection of films, bringing together classics of
world cinema with new visions from emerging talents.
This Cinema Tehran program at The Roxy pairs “Chess of the Wind” the newly discovered & remastered Iranian masterpiece with a short film by master Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Peleshian presented in 35mm. This series has been created by Arya Ghavamian, the co-founder of Disco Tehran. Special thanks to Brian Belovarac (Janus Films) and Christophe Calmels (Films Sans Frontieres)

For more info about Cinema Tehran and Disco Tehran, visit @discotehran.nyc & @cienmatehran.nyc on Instagram

CHESS OF THE WIND (Shatranj-e Baad) by Mohammadreza Aslani
Iran, 1976, 99 min, 35mm to digital. In Farsi with English subtitles.

A gothic masterpiece from Iran. This is perhaps one of the most emblematic films in the history of Iranian cinema, despite having limited exposure due to a disastrous premiere at the Tehran International Film Festival in 1976. “Chess of the Wind” screened publicly just once before it was banned and then lost for decades, this rediscovered jewel of Iranian cinema reemerges to take its place as one of the most singular and astonishing works of the country’s pre-revolution New Wave.

WE/NOUS/MENQ by Artavazd Peleshian
USSR-Armenia, 1969, 26 min, 35mm, no dialogue.

WE is a monumental exploration of Armenia’s collective identity and turbulent past.
Peleshian’s rarely seen work is an enormous engine of cinematic movement that yields a potent image of memory, an inter-generational ‘we’ that neither embraces nor excludes. This masterpiece of Armenian cinema is rarely shown and never correctly seen. Presented for the first time at Cinema Tehran.

Total running time: appx. 125 min.
Thurs, Dec 18 at 8:00 (SHARP)