Dariush Mehrjui: Making the Caw (2022)
Trailer Link is below:
Featuring:
Members of the film crew of The Cow: Dariush Mehrjui (director), Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nassirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Jafar Vali, Ezzatollah Ramezanifar, Reza Fazeli, (Actors), Zari Khalaj (Editor), Hormoz Farhat (Composer)
And Film Critics: Pierre-Henri Deleau (France), Callisto Cosulich (Italy), Godfrey Cheshire and Richard Pena (USA), Mohammad Haghighat, Fereydoun Hoveyda, Esmail Nooriala and Amir Taheri (Iran)
Camera: Shahryar Assadi, Arash Adibzadeh, Foroud Avazpour, Bjarne Blume, Marco Carraro, Serge Hamad, Nezam Kiaie, Bahman Maghsoudlou, Mahmoud Oskoui, Paolo Poce, Reza Vafa
Editor: Haleh Javanshir & Graphic Artist
Music: Fereydoun Shahbazian, Hormoz Farhat, Andrei Vonavi
Consultant: Esmail Nooriala
Executive Producer: Bijan Maghsoudlou, Behzad Maghsoudlou, Bahman Maghsoudlou
Writer/Director/Producer: Bahman Maghsoudlou
Iran/USA, Copyright IFVC, 2022
Synopsis: This feature documentary examines the making of The Cow (1968), smuggled to Venice, and won FIPRESCI Prize (1971), and how it became one of the major films of the Iranian New Wave, and its impact on both Iranian films before and after the 1979 revolution and the larger global cinematic landscape.
This documentary was shot by twelve different cinematographers in 8 cities (Tehran, Rome, London, Paris, Toronto, New York, Denver, Washington DC) in six countries from 2002 to 2022.
USA, Documentary, Color and B/W, 85 Minutes, Farsi & English with English Subtitles, International Film & Video Center, Copyright, 2022
Festival:
– MESA Film Fest, Dec 2022
-Gene Siskel Film Center Festival of Iranian Film from
Iran, Chicago, February 2024
-IFC Center Iranian Film Festival, NEW York City, January 2024
Bahman Maghsoudlou Biography
Film scholar, author, critic, and director Bahman Maghsoudlou is the recipient of Iran’s prestigious Forough Farrokhzad literary award (1353-1975) for writing and editing a series of books about cinema and theater. These include the acclaimed Iranian Cinema, (NYU, 1987) and Grass: Untold Stories (Mazda,2008), a definitive account of the making of Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, the groundbreaking documentary filmed by Merian Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack and Marguerite Harrison in Iran in 1924. His most recent books in Farsi are When the Clouds Did Not Hide the Moon (NY: IFVC,2020) and The Poetic Realism of Jean Renoir (Tehran: Hekmatkalame,2021). His last books are Charmed by the Silver Screen: The World Cinema (Tehran, Damon,2023) and Bahram Beyzaie: A Mosaic of Metaphors. (Tehran, Borj,2023).
He has produced more than twenty films, as well as writing, directing, and producing ten documentaries. His first short documentary, Ardeshir Mohasses and His Caricatures was released in 1972, and later screened at the Leipzig Film Festival in 1996. In the USA, he created the Renowned Iranian Artists series, which includes such films as Ahmad Mahmoud: a Noble Novelist (2004), Iran Darroudi: the Painter of Ethereal Moments (2010), and Ardeshir Mohasses: The Rebellious Artist (2012), an extended update of his original film about Mohasses. The last one is Najaf Daryabandari: A Window on the World(2020), screened at Mesa Film Fest 2021.
As a film historian, he has so far written, produced, and directed four entries in the History of Iranian Cinema series: Abbas Kiarostami: A Report (2013), which premiered at the Montreal World Film festival, Razor’s Edge: The Legacy of Iranian Actresses (2016), Bahram Beyzaie: A Mosaic of Metaphors (2019) and Dariush Mehrjui: Making the Cow (2022).
His films have been selected for more than 100 major film festivals and garnered many awards. These include The Suitors (Cannes, 1988), Manhattan by Numbers (Venice, Toronto, London, Chicago, 1993), Seven Servants,with legendary actorAnthony Quinn (Locarno, Montréal, Toronto, 1996), Life in Fog (1998), the single most awarded short documentary film in the history of Iranian Cinema, and Silence of the Sea, winner of six prizes and a selection for more than 20 other film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.
Maghsoudlou’s activities involving international cinema further include participation as a panelist, juror, and lecturer at a wide variety of film festivals in Russia, Italy, the USA, Canada and Iran. He also served as president of the jury at the 2012 Ibn Arabi Film Festival (IBAFF) in Spain and the Montreal World Film Festival, 2014.
Having organized the first-ever Iranian Film Festival in New York in 1980, he originated the International Short Film Festival: Independent Films in Iran, which was held in October 2007 at the Asia Society in New York.
A graduate in cinema studies from the City University of New York with a PhD from Columbia, Maghsoudlou lives in New York. He is a member of the PEN American center.
Blurbs:
« An incisive, illuminating look at THE COW, arguably the most important and influential film in the history of Iranian cinema. »
— Godfrey Cheshire
I was absolutely impressed by the great quality of this well-made, informative and at the same time entertaining documentary. Dariush Mehrjui Making The Cow not only deals with all aspects of this icon of international cinema, but also portrays the Iranian society and the state of art and culture state during the time of making The caw.
Cinema Without Borders
https://www.cinemawithoutborders.com/an-interview-with-bahman-maghsoudlou/
Dariush Mehrjui: Making the Cow
Director Bahman Maghsoudlou creates an informative and remarkable film, featuring unique interviews with the maestro himself, along with his group of veteran actors, film crew, and notable scholars, all of whom offer valuable insight into this masterpiece of the Iranian New Wave Cinema.
Best,
Mehrnaz Saeedvafa
Film professor and Programmer
