More than four decades after the 1979 Revolution, we showcase the work of filmmakers who captured the atmosphere of the time. ‘A Revolution, Televised’ is a collection of documentaries by Iranian, European, and Arab filmmakers whose works explore the nexus between the personal and the political, to question the boundaries between perception and reality, and show how cinema itself became part of the broader socio-political fabric of society.
برای آزادی
Directed by Hossein Torabi • 1979 • Iran
Pure “Direct Cinema”: Hossein Torabi films the events without knowing their outcome: Processions of mourning and jubilation, scenes after the fire in the “Cinema Rex” in Abadan, southern Iran, in which 377 viewers died; the famous interview with...
طپش تاریخ
Directed by Asghar Fardoust, Davoud Kanaani • 1979 • Iran
In the early days of the revolution, three young cameramen working for the National TV take their cameras out on to the streets of Tehran to capture the people’s revolution. This documentary, covers the revolutionary events from ...
جنبش آزادی زنان ایران - سال صفر
Directed by Claudine Mulard • 1979 • France
"Mouvement de Libération des Femmes Iraniennes, Année Zéro"
In 1979, Iranian Women invite the American feminist Kate Millett to celebrate March 8, the International Women's Day, in Tehran. On March 7, the religious leader...
قضیه شکل اول، شکل دوم
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1979 • Iran
This banned and rarely seen pseudo-documentary by Kiarostami is a testimony to his seldom acknowledged political shrewdness and his objective, complex perspective on the tumultuous events of the late 70s in Iran, culminating in the ...
تازهنفسها
Directed by Kianoush Ayari • 1979 • Iran
Kianoush Ayari’s documentary captures rare scenes of everyday life on the streets of Tehran in the months following the revolution of 1979 — that somewhat utopian period between revolutionary violence and the formation of a full fledged Islamic...
جستجو: یک
Directed by Amir Naderi • 1980 • Iran
Amir Naderi's first feature documentary in which he searches for those who went missing after the massacre of ‘Black Friday’ on September 8, 1978.
ایران، آرمانشهر در تکاپو
Directed by Jocelyne Saab • 1980 • Lebanon
The Iranian revolution leads to the Shah’s downfall and installation of the Islamic Republic. Avoiding the more sensational elements of the news this film questions Iranian society as a whole to try to understand what this wave o...
آداب بهاری
Directed by Ali Asghar Agahbanaei • 1982 • Iran
An experimental documentary that takes world-building to an entirely new level, Rites of Spring showcases fragments of Iran’s history before, during, and after the Revolution of 1979. It begins with scenes of daily life, working-class peo...
ایران: یک انقلاب سینمایی
Directed by Nader Takmil Homayoun • 2006 • Iran
Throughout the twentieth century, Iranian filmmakers never ceased to fight against monarchical and then Islamic power. From this confrontation, an original cinematography emerged and is today exported worldwide. This documen...
قصه شب
Directed by Abbas Amini • 2008 • Iran
A short documentary by Abbas Amini investigates the Cinema Rex fire in Abadan on the 30th anniversary of that tragedy.
چهارده آبان روز آتش
Directed by Robert Safarian • 2008 • Iran
This Film is about one day of Iranian Revolution, 14th of Aban 1357 (5 Nov. 1978), the day Tehran was set on fire. From the beginning question arose who set the buildings on fire, SAVAK (security police of Shah) or the demonstrators. W...
روزگاری برای آزادی
Directed by Mehdi Asadi • 2009 • Iran
In 2009, on the 30th anniversary of the revolution, Mehdi Asadi decides to make a short documentary about a feature film by Hossein Torabi called “For Freedom”.
نماهایی که ناپدید شد
Directed by Hamid Jafari • 2010 • Iran
Inspired by the most important film derived from the magnificent work of three cameramen in the early days of the revolution, Hamid Jafari wants to know what happened to the remaining rushes of “The Pulse of History”.
گم و گور
Directed by Mohammadreza Farzad • 2010 • Iran
A short documentary film about the bloody massacre of innocent Iranian people in the birth month of the director, September 8 of 1979. it concentrates on a less than minute horrifying footage of the bloody killing of people who were unaware o...
گفتگو با انقلاب
Directed by Robert Safarian • 2011 • Iran
The media images of the 1979 revolution are derived from a few sources that are repeatedly rearranged – and can reveal hidden stories and people. Safarian takes a personal look at the events, their cinematic presentation and the concept of...
تلویزیون ۵۷
Directed by Susan Bayani • 2011 • Iran
This documentary composed entirely of archived footage, tells the story of the Iranian Television Broadcast employees’ 99 days strike in reaction to the imposition of martial law during the 1978-79 Iranian revolution and the appointment of a Roya...
فالگوش
Directed by Mohammadreza Farzad • 2012 • Iran
In 1978, on the verge of the revolution, more than 130 cinemas burned down across Iran, including 28 in Tehran. Who set them on fire, how was it done, and why?
قبل از انقلاب
Directed by Dan Shadur • 2013 • Israel
Today they may be sworn enemies, but in the 60s and 70s thousands of Israelis lived in Iran. Protected by arms deals and complex financial ties, the Israelis enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, wilfully blind to the corruption they supported. But in...
ثانیههای سربی
Directed by Seyed Reza Razavi • 2013 • Iran
While conducting research for her new book about the events of 8 September 1978, when dozens of demonstrators were killed by the Shah’s army, Iranian novelist Narges Abyar comes across a documentary which includes an interview with a cine...
مهمانی بزرگ شاه
Directed by Hassan Amini • 2016 • Iran
In 1971, the Shah of Iran, the self-proclaimed 'king of kings', celebrated 2,500 years of the Persian monarchy by throwing the greatest party in history. Money was no object - a lavish tent city, using 37km of silk, was erected in a specially...
“Mother married a photo of Father,” says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She’s not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran—he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel ...
