Clik here to view.
Brick and Mirror (Ebrahim Golestan, 1964)
The cover of the original pressbookIranian cinema’s first true modern masterpiece, Brick and Mirror explores fear and responsibility in the wake of the CIA- and MI6-orchestrated 1953 coup. A...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chess of the Wind (Mohammad Reza Aslani, 1976)
In a mesmerizing take on House of Usher-like themes, set in a decaying feudal mansion, the death of a noble family’s matriarch sets off a power struggle. Mohammad Reza Aslani’s debut feature plunges...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Crown Jewels of Iran (Ebrahim Golestan, 1965) | MoMA
Ebrahim Golestan’s most visually dazzling documentary, The Crown Jewels of Iran is ostensibly a showcase of the precious jewels housed in the treasury of the Central Bank of Iran, but in reality, it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Stranger and the Fog (Bahram Beyzaie, 1974)
Bahram Beyzaie on the set of The Stranger and the FogImpossible to see for decades, Bahram Beyzaie's dazzling The Stranger and the Fog, about a mysterious stranger arriving in a drifting boat to a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Experience (Abbas Kiarostami, 1973)
Abbas Kiarostami’s first mid-length film, The Experience, tells the story of a photography shop errand boy who falls in love with the daughter of a client. Written by his friend Amir Naderi, a renowned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Far From Home (Sohrab Shahid Saless, 1975)
A transitional film linking Sohrab Shahid Saless's Iranian period with his extended stay in Germany, Far From Home was a meditation on social isolation and stillness. No other film has depicted the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The House is Black (Forough Farrokhzad, 1962)
The only film directed by Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad before her premature death at the age of 32 is considered one of the greatest documentaries ever made. Set in a leper colony in northwest Iran,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Brighton Strangler | Screening Announcement
The Brighton StranglerExtended intro by Ehsan KhoshbakhtA Christmas thriller with a murderous twist in which a theatre star with amnesia believes himself to be a serial killer.Part of Projecting the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
London Jazz Festival | Jazz on Screen: Symphonies in Black – Duke Ellington...
Jazz on Screen: Symphonies in Black: Duke Ellington ShortsTue 19 Nov 2024, 18:30, Location: Barbican Cinema 3Introduction to the screening by Ehsan KhoshbakhtJoin us at the Barbican for a special...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cinema is a Machine of Empathy
The Stranger and the Fog“CINEMA IS A MACHINE OF EMPATHY”: RESTORING AND CURATING IRANIAN’S CINEMATIC HERITAGE. AND CURATING IRANIAN’S CINEMATIC HERITAGE. An interview with Ehsan Khoshbakht By...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
Otto Preminger with Billy Strayhorn and Duke EllingtonOtto Preminger concluded the 50s – a decade already marked by some of his most audacious work – with this courtroom drama about a country lawyer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
La dama de la antorcha. 100 años de Columbia Pictures
The Lady with the Torch: Columbia Pictures, 1929-1959 travels to Filmoteca Española in Madrid. My essay, in Spanish, here.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ebrahim Golestan and the Restoration of Iran’s Cinematic Heritage [A free...
Ebrahim Golestan and the Restoration of Iran’s Cinematic Heritage at Victoria & Albert MuseumEbrahim Golestan (1922–2023) is widely regarded as one of Iran’s most significant filmmakers and a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Merrily We Go to Hell (Dorothy Arzner, 1932)
Originally titled Jerry and Joan during production, this charming and exquisitely directed pre-code melodrama was later renamed to the slightly controversial Merrily We Go to Hell. The film features...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lewis Milestone Retrospective at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025
Milestone (left) on the set of Rain with Joan CrawfordLewis Milestone: Of Wars and MenA milestone of visual flair and virtuosity in American cinema, the career of Lewis Milestone – a Russian Jewish...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Make Use of Leisure Time: Painting – A Film NOT by Abbas Kiarostami
How to Make Use of Leisure Time: Painting (1977), a short educational documentary widely credited to and distributed as a film by Abbas Kiarostami, has nothing to do with him. He is not the director of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Demetrius and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves, 1954)
A very Scope filmNote on Demetrius and the Gladiators, in the occasion of the new restoration of the film premiered at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024. It was restored in 4K by The Walt Disney Studios and The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Me and My Gal (Raoul Walsh, 1932)
Written for Sight & Sound, December 2023. – EKIf Raoul Walsh's action films are imbued with poetry, his comedies are charged with anarchy. A prime example of the latter is Me and My Gal, a pre-Code...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema, 1945-1960 | Variety Interview
"August’s Locarno Film Festival will go British with its latest retrospective: Great Expectations: British Post-War Cinema, 1945-1960. The retrospective forms a major strand of the film festival’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding the Dark Edge: British Postwar Cinema at Locarno – A Conversation
(c) Locarno International Film FestivalA conversation with Locarno’s Christopher Small about my new curatorial project for the festival's 2025 retrospective, Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
British Postwar Cinema: Five Personal Favourites
The Passionate FriendsFive personal favourites from the upcoming British Postwar Cinema 1945-1960 retrospective at Locarno.The Passionate Friends (David Lean, 1949)Lean was a painter with his camera...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Centenary screening of Grass (1925) with live music by Payman Yazdanian
GrassScreening at Kings Place, London, on May 11, 2025. Book here.Grass (1925), one of the canonical greats of the silent era by the directorial team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack—today...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025 | Which Films Play in Each Strand
La ragazza di BubeThis is a list of the titles that will be screened at Il Cinema Ritrovato, excluding the 1905 and 1925 strands. The listings for the Documentary and Restored & Recovered strands...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ida Lupino: The Best of Her Television Work
My selection of Lupino's TV work as a director will play at Close-Up Cinema on May 25. – EKThe London-born Hollywood movie star Ida Lupino, known as one of the screen’s 'tough girls', found acting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cecil Taylor à Paris (Gérard Patris, 1968)
The brand-new restoration of Cecil Taylor à Paris, courtesy of INA, will be premiered at the 2025 edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato. – EK“He doesn’t come from my community,” replies avant-garde jazz...
View Article