"The Lor Girl" and "Mr. Haji, The Movie Actor"

This film is part of UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema.

Program funded by Farhang Foundation and the United States Department of State.

Details from the website:

THE LOR GIRL
(1933) Directed by Ardeshir Irani

The first Iranian talking picture, shot in India with an Indian cast trained to act as Iranians, The Lor Girl tells the story of Golonar (“Pomegranate Blossom”), who dances in tea-houses and inns on the Lorestan-Khuzistan road, heroically surviving on her own in the world. The film captured the public imagination and was shown simultaneously in two theaters in Tehran for nearly seven months. . Sepenta went on to direct four more Persian talkies in India for the Iranian market.

Producer: Ardeshir Irani, Abdohossein Sepenta. Screenwriter: Abdohossein Sepenta. Cinematographer: Rostam Irani. Cast: Sohrab Poori, Roohangiz Sami-Nejad, Abdohossein Sepenta. 35mm, B/W, 90 min.

MR. HAJI, THE MOVIE ACTOR
(1932) Directed by Avanes Ohanian

Traditional Mr. Haji objects to the cinema on moral grounds. But when his daughter, her fiance, and Haji’s manservant conspire with a film director to secretly make a film with Haji as the subject, movie star Haji’s resolve is sorely tested in the last analysis. This rare cinematic jewel is a delight to watch both as a historical work that represents the old Tehran in the throes of modernization and as a prescient work of art that defines the inherent tensions between modernity and tradition still at work in the Iranian society and cinema of today.

Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla.

Producer: Avanes Ohanian. Screenwriter: Avanes Ohanian. Cinematographer: Ebrahim Moradi, Paolo Potemkin. Cast: Habiollah Morad, Asia Qostanian, Abbasqoli Edalatpur. Digital Projection, silent, B/W, 100 min.

* Please note the early start time.