More Kiarostami?

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AquaNarc
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#76 Post by AquaNarc » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:07 pm

thanks for the info Chaney, interesting stuff.

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ryannichols7
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#77 Post by ryannichols7 » Sat Oct 13, 2012 10:16 pm

Chaney_TUX wrote:
ryannichols7 wrote:i'll possibly ask him that and if Criterion may be releasing more of his work when I'm in New York next weekend when he's there screening one of the ten best movies ever made
Did you go? there's been a controversy here about what he said. some reporters say that he said he's willing to do a filming in Israel. can you confirm that? what did he exactly say?

in Iran, if somebody says something about Israel (let alone the fact that a director says he wants to do a filming there...) it's a big crime. they don't even use the word Israel, they call it "Zionist Regime". it's not like that with USA or UK. they can freely do filming (set/location) in any country they want. they even make Iranian/American productions from time to time. but talking about Israel, that's just another story...
he's filming in Iran next. i asked him personally afterwards. no idea of anything dealing with Israel. he told me the Iran set movie is probably not going to be a "typical" film, whatever that means. he did also say the movie after that (!!) would be set in Italy again, though not in Tuscany.

he signed both of my copies of Certified Copy and Close-Up and told me he thought it was funny because he thinks they're very similar movies. Shirin is the movie he's most proud of making, since he claims the movie made itself. before that movie was made, Close-Up was his answer.

there's other stuff too.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#78 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:27 pm

Mohsen Makhmalbaf shot his latest film in Israel, so that may be why the topic came up. But then Makhmalbaf has already pretty clearly burned his bridges with the regime.

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Re: More Kiarostami?

#79 Post by Chaney_TUX » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:46 pm

AquaNarc wrote:thanks for the info Chaney, interesting stuff.
thank you :wink:
he's filming in Iran next. i asked him personally afterwards. no idea of anything dealing with Israel. he told me the Iran set movie is probably not going to be a "typical" film, whatever that means. he did also say the movie after that (!!) would be set in Italy again, though not in Tuscany.

he signed both of my copies of Certified Copy and Close-Up and told me he thought it was funny because he thinks they're very similar movies. Shirin is the movie he's most proud of making, since he claims the movie made itself. before that movie was made, Close-Up was his answer.

there's other stuff too.
thanks for the informations. according to this Iranian website:

http://www.caffecinema.com/foreign-cine ... q-q--.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

he talked about Israel with "Playlist" in 4th or 8th of October in New York, after or before the screening of "Like Someone in Love".
things are not so okay right now in Iran. with all the currency value problems and censors, I really don't think he could actually make his next film in Iran. maybe he was talking about his old project "Father and Son" with Hamed Behdad.
Yes, he talks about "Shirin" every chance he gets! and he always says that he really likes that film and have watched it more than 50 times. it's funny because "Shirin" is probably the least praised film of Kiarostami here in Iran, and believe me it's not because of its unusual technic.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf (who evidently has no intention of going back to Iran anytime soon) shot his latest film (The Gardener) in Israel, so that may be why the topic came up.
thanks. I didn't know that.
funny thing about Makhmalbaf is that during the first decade after the 79 revolution, he was the most trusted person in the whole system. he was really close to all the leaders of Iran and he made many films about "Holy Defense", and many religious stuffs and he was a complete right-winger and nobody could have guessed he'll become a different person. there's a very-famous (possibly the most famous) comedy in Iran called "The Tenants" (1986) by Dariush Mehrjui, and it has many political layers. anyway back in the 80s Makhmalbaf was so faithful to the Islamic regime that he actually said in a newspaper that he'll attach a bomb to himself and explode Mehrjuie and anyone who see his film. you can't believe what type of films he was making during the 80s and 90s. he wasn't always making "Gabbeh", "The Silence", "Scream of Ants" and stuffs like that. in the late 80s, in a famous interview he did say awful things about other famous Iranian directors like Mehrjuie or Masoud Kimiai, and he also mentioned Kiarostami on that interview:

"... at least there's somebody who's looking for a friend's house in this god-forsaken time"

and it was like the only positive thing that he said on that interview.

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denti alligator
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#80 Post by denti alligator » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:51 am

So what's the status of the future Criterion releases of Kiarostami? I desperately want to show my son the Koker trilogy.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#81 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:09 am

The Koker Trilogy will be out this year as they hinted it during their New Years Day drawing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s released in time for the July B&N sale. Plus, it was confirmed by Kiarostami’s son that Criterion/Janus will be doing much work on his catalogue.

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denti alligator
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#82 Post by denti alligator » Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:01 pm

Thanks. I just saw that I started this thread (!) just about 12 years ago. Amazing.

Would be great to get everything by AK, including the screenplays not directed by him.

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denti alligator
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#83 Post by denti alligator » Tue Mar 09, 2021 5:47 pm

I asked “Mulvaney” about the possibility of a Kiarostami box set and he said there are no plans for further Kiarostami releases at all, let alone a set.

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criterionsnob
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#84 Post by criterionsnob » Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:24 pm

That's disappointing. I remember reading that Kiarostami's son had said the shorts would be released on the Criterion Channel. I hope that still happens, as I missed the retrospective.

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denti alligator
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#85 Post by denti alligator » Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:45 pm

I should correct my report of the email. The extract language is “no immediate plans to release a collection of his films and no box set in the works.” So there could still be releases, I guess. The shorts would make nice extras for feature releases, if there were planning these (though maybe not “immediately”).

Honestly, though, I can’t imagine them putting a spine number on any of the early features/documentaries: The Wedding Suit, First Graders, The Experience, Fellow Citizen. If I recall correctly, three of these are an hour or shorter. So they’re short features. They would work nicely in a set including all the shorts.

Putting a spine on The Wind Will Carry Us or, maybe, Shirin, would make sense. Do they have the rights to Ten?

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swo17
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#86 Post by swo17 » Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:31 pm

They gave a spine to Scorsese Shorts

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denti alligator
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#87 Post by denti alligator » Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:59 pm

swo17 wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:31 pm
They gave a spine to Scorsese Shorts
Good point. I looked them up and indeed Fellow Citizen, The Experience, and The Wedding Suit are 60 or less. So they might get away with being called “shorts.” That leaves First Graders, which I guess they could add as an extra feature to The Wind Will Carry Us.

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Black Hat
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#88 Post by Black Hat » Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:12 am

I'm curious how Kiarostami releases sell, does anyone know? I can't see the Iranian diaspora getting behind it so that doesn't help, but the Kiarostami Festival at IFC in the summer of 2019 did really well.

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jegharfangetmigenmyg
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#89 Post by jegharfangetmigenmyg » Sat May 01, 2021 7:36 am

Potemkine are releasing a lavish 3 BD / 6 DVD "Kanoon Years" set on Tuesday. Must be the restarations cited by ellipsis7 below: https://store.potemkine.fr/dvd/35450200 ... es-kanoon/

Unfortunately, only French subtitles. Hopefully, Criterion picks up on this one, although it probably won't exactly compete as a bestseller.

ellipsis7 wrote:
Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:12 am
Kiarostami On the Road Again @ Cinema Ritrovato comprises three short films from his Kanoon days, newly 'Restored in 2020 by MK2 at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory'... Likely would form a standalone Blu Ray release for Criterion and/or MK2, I would guess - what a wonderful package that would be...
The three short films presented in this edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato all feature cars and traffic, although they were shot while Kiarostami worked for the Kanoon, the Institute for the intellectual developement of children and young adults, where he was supposed to make educational films. They were made during the years of the Iranian Revolution, when almost no film could be shot. In 1978, the young director escaped from the tensions of the city with only one cameraman, one soundman, a non-actor and a tyre (long before Quentin Dupieux). Together, they shoot Rah-e hall-e yek, an extraordinary silent odyssey, only through the grace of the frames, the light, the editing and the score. In 1981, Be tartib ya bedun-e tartib, based on the either/or principle, a trope frequently explored in his cinema, first appears to be a simple demonstration of the virtue of order, in a school as in the city traffic. But soon, the viewer realises there is a film in the film and taking control over the traffic is just as difficult as trying to master reality in order to make a film. Two years later, in 1983, after witnessing the scene in the streets of Tehran, Kiarostami decides to use some outdated 16 mm negatives to film the procession of countless motorists passing in front of one single man: an officer assigned to block the road, sacrificed to their constant pressure. Hamshahri, among his least well-known films, is a fascinating document of power struggle in post-revolutionary Iran. In these early unique road movies, Abbas Kiarostami proved his ability to make cinema with almost no means, to transform the apparent purpose of the project by adjusting to reality and constantly celebrating movement as the quintessence of life and cinema.

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ellipsis7
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#90 Post by ellipsis7 » Sat May 01, 2021 8:34 am

Excellent news!... And well spotted...

It seems this is a Limited Edition of just 1,000 numbered copies, so I'm not absolutely sure it would be viable for Criterion to replicate this release stateside, but we can live in hope... Meantime I will pick up this French Potemkine-MK2 edition while it is still available...

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hearthesilence
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#91 Post by hearthesilence » Sat May 01, 2021 12:10 pm

Oh nice! Thanks for the tip! I wasn't sure if these would ever get restored, but they're truly great films. Lincoln Center paired the first film, Rah-e hal-e yek aka Solution No. 1, with his 1985 feature-length film First Graders and also paired together the second and third films, Be tartib ya bedun-e tartib? aka Orderly or Disorderly and Hamshahri aka Fellow Citizen, when they screened them at their Kiarostami retrospective in 2013. With all four films, they projected them from a DVD since there wasn't a print available, so having a great new restoration for at least three of them is exceptionally good news. (Maybe First Graders has already been restored, or it's in the works?)

EDIT: actually, it looks like First Graders is part of that Blu-ray package - if I'm not mistaken, Les Élèves du cours préparatoire would be it - so I really, REALLY hope this gets a U.S. release or at least a U.K. release with English subtitles!

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ellipsis7
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#92 Post by ellipsis7 » Sun May 09, 2021 7:20 am

Received LES ANNEES KANOON/ABBAS KIAROSTAMI yesterday & it's a beautifully presented collection... There is no book or booklet, an adequate set of supplements and the films have been digitized in 4K and then restored in 2K by Il Cinema Ritrovato in Paris & Bologna... They look well & there is quality subtitling in French... It's a bulky boxset with two separate inserts, a slender one for the 3 Blu Rays, but a much bulkier one for the 6 DVDs... As I mentioned previously it is a limited edition of just 1000 copies - mine is no. 370 - and I note Amazon.fr is out of stock currently... While there a half dozen or logos on the bottom of the box, Criterion and/or Janus Films are not included, so I'm guessing this will probably not make the Collection...

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tenia
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#93 Post by tenia » Sun May 09, 2021 7:37 am

There is no reason for Criterion's or Janus' logos to appear there, since they're not the ones who have commissioned the restorations, and obviously aren't related to this French release.
My only grip with this set is that the movies have all been placed onto 2 and a half BD-50, and as such are quite heavily compressed. I'm not sure why such a split on the 3 BD-50s, since the split of the movies could have been done in a more uniform fashion (and the 3rd BD-50 better used), allowing for a higher AVB and most likely a less agressive encode. As it is, film grain on several shorts noticeably suffer from it, flickering between proper frames and blocky frames (I guess I frames and predicted frames). Fortunately, the GOPs look to be very short, but that still leaves 1 good I frame surrounded by 2 or 3 poorly predicted frames.
And of course, the color shorts bear more or less visibly the Ritrovata color grading stamp. Most of them are fine though, but 1982's The Chorus looks like the latest Bertolucci's 1900 restoration. I doubt it's right.

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hearthesilence
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#94 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Nov 16, 2023 11:19 pm

hearthesilence wrote:
Sat May 01, 2021 12:10 pm
Oh nice! Thanks for the tip! I wasn't sure if these would ever get restored, but they're truly great films. Lincoln Center paired the first film, Rah-e hal-e yek aka Solution No. 1, with his 1985 feature-length film First Graders and also paired together the second and third films, Be tartib ya bedun-e tartib? aka Orderly or Disorderly and Hamshahri aka Fellow Citizen, when they screened them at their Kiarostami retrospective in 2013. With all four films, they projected them from a DVD since there wasn't a print available, so having a great new restoration for at least three of them is exceptionally good news. (Maybe First Graders has already been restored, or it's in the works?)

EDIT: actually, it looks like First Graders is part of that Blu-ray package - if I'm not mistaken, Les Élèves du cours préparatoire would be it - so I really, REALLY hope this gets a U.S. release or at least a U.K. release with English subtitles!
As mentioned in another thread, a program of Kiarostami's shorts pre-dating the Iranian Revolution is playing at MoMA (there's one more screening on Nov. 27) and these are the Janus DCP's that use the restorations by Il Cinema Ritrovato. (IIRC same DCP's screened at IFC's Kiarostami retrospective a few years back.) I have to say, I'm taken aback by the sickly yellow look of these DCP's - most egregious is Solution No. 1 because the landscape is covered in snow and, well, sample frames are posted on Janus's own website.

To be fair, I found some transfers of really poor video copies streaming online, and the washed out color does betray a sickly yellow hue, so maybe it really is the film stock?

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hearthesilence
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#95 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Nov 16, 2023 11:33 pm

You can see the same thing with Two Solutions for One Problem.

Just for the hell of it, I grabbed a handful of those images and ran them through auto tone and auto color in Photoshop - just a quick and no-effort fix - and here's how they look:

Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5

It's frustrating because the whole time I'm watching, it feels very distracting, like you never get sucked into the film because it looks so unnatural, but it didn't have to be this way.

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Peacock
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#96 Post by Peacock » Fri Nov 17, 2023 3:19 pm

Yes it didn’t have to be this way, they could digitally change the look of the film stock to match modern film stocks and the digital look but why should they?

Do people want Ozu’s films colour corrected to change the Agfacolor green as well?

There’s a world of different stocks out there with extremely different whites etc, but that doesn’t mean they all need corrected to look identical, I think we should be honouring the original look of a film as often the DP selected a stock deliberately to emphasise certain colours etc.

Anyone can take a yellow frame grab from Amelie and correct it to neutral colours in Photoshop, but it doesn’t mean it’s right.

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hearthesilence
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#97 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Nov 24, 2023 3:31 pm

Peacock wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2023 3:19 pm
Yes it didn’t have to be this way, they could digitally change the look of the film stock to match modern film stocks and the digital look but why should they?

Do people want Ozu’s films colour corrected to change the Agfacolor green as well?

There’s a world of different stocks out there with extremely different whites etc, but that doesn’t mean they all need corrected to look identical, I think we should be honouring the original look of a film as often the DP selected a stock deliberately to emphasise certain colours etc.

Anyone can take a yellow frame grab from Amelie and correct it to neutral colours in Photoshop, but it doesn’t mean it’s right.
Missed this response, but the problem is that this is the same palette Ritrovata applies to nearly every color restoration they handle, regardless of the era or film stock. It says a lot that when the IFC Center held the Kiarostami retrospective of brand new restorations, the Koker trilogy were the only films done by someone else who wasn't Ritrovata (in this case Criterion) and those restorations look exactly how the films looked when I saw vintage 35mm prints screened at Lincoln Center not too long ago, which did not have that palette seen in all of Ritrovata's restorations.

FWIW, I noticed Kiarostami's foundation has a page for Two Solutions for One Problem that includes screencaps of Ritrovata’s restoration. Amusingly, they include a movie poster that incorporates stills, and they only accentuate that weird turqoise/teal haze that bleeds into Ritrovata's restoration.

pistolwink
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#98 Post by pistolwink » Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:29 pm

Someone at Ritrovata must be utterly convinced that this is what films from many different decades and places are supposed to look like, huh?

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mhofmann
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Re: More Kiarostami?

#99 Post by mhofmann » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:22 pm

pistolwink wrote:
Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:29 pm
Someone at Ritrovata must be utterly convinced that this is what films from many different decades and places are supposed to look like, huh?
Indeed. The head of color grading at L’Immagine Ritrovata is Giandomenico Zeppa, see also this article.

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