Every year for the past ten years The Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago has presented an Iranian Film Festival, making Chicago a true center for Iranian cinema in this country. Associate Director of Programming Alissa Simon journeys to Tehran and brings back a selection of new and rediscovered work from what has become one of the world's most exciting filmmaking capitals. This year PFA audiences too can benefit from her curatorial research, in a series of films presented throughout December. Our program includes two films by the feminist writer-director Tahmineh Milani, The Legend of a Sigh and the new Two Women; the long-banned The Lady (Banoo); a selection of fascinating documentaries; and Sweet Agony, an acclaimed new entry in what has become a uniquely Iranian tradition born only partly of necessity, and mainly of quirky creativity, in the films of Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf: using the talents of nonprofessional actors to fabulous effect. We begin with a tribute to the late Sohrab Shahid-Saless, who greatly influenced the course of the New Iranian Cinema.We wish to thank Alissa Simon, The Film Center of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as our colleagues Bo Smith, Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and Marian Luntz, Houston Museum of Fine Arts. We also thank Jamsheed Akrami; Mohammad Atebbai, Film International Quarterly; Amir Esfandiari, Farabi Cinema Foundation; Iranian Young Cinema Society; Bahman Maghsoudlou, International Film & Video Center; Andreas Mittrenga, Taurus Film; Mehdi Shafaghi, Varahonar Company; and Women Make Movies. Friday December 3, 1999
