Kamran Shirdel
Kamran Shirdel was born in 1939 and studied first architecture and then film at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. After graduating in 1964, Shirdel returned to Tehran and joined a group of film-makers producing documentaries for the Ministry of Culture. Over the next few years, Shirdel produced six films which frankly analyzed and revealed the dark side of society by making use of a social consciousness familiar from Italian neo-realism. All these films were immediately banned, in certain cases the material was confiscated during production. Shortly after the revolution of 1979, the films and the unedited material were released for a short time and Shirdel was able to finish the films.
For more than 30 years, Kamran Shirdel had to limit his activity to making commissioned films for the industry. Only in 2001, he produced his next author's film, "Solitude Opus 1". In 2000 Shirdel created the Kish Documentary Film Festival which offers a platform to Iranian documentary film-makers.
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Silver Canvas
بوم سیمین
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1965 • Iran
"Silver Canvas", the first documentary made by Kamran Shirdel, deals with the art of silversmithing. -
Women's Quarter
قلعه
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1966 • Iran
The Women's Quarter (Qaleh, 1966) shows the life of prostitutes in Tehran's city brothels, an area known as Shahre Now. The film closely follows a number of women and communicates how the burden of social constraints led them to surrender in the face ... -
Women's Prison
ندامتگاه
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1965 • Iran
Women's Prison (Nedamatgah) (1965), is the first — and least subversive — film made by Kamran Shirdel under the auspices of Organization of The Iranian Women [sic]. Prisoners and their hardships (especially vis-à-vis their children) are juxtaposed... -
Tehran Is The Capital Of Iran
تهران پایتخت ایران است
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1966 • Iran
Tehran Is the Capital of Iran (Tehran Paytakht Iran Ast, 1966-79) documents life in a deprived district in the south of Tehran. The images of destitution in Tehran’s poor areas is accompanied by a variety of spoken accounts: the offi... -
The Night It Rained
اون شب که بارون اومد
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1967 • Iran
The Night It Rained (Oon shab ke baroon oomad - 1967), is a modern-day epic that attempts to retrace the true circumstances of a heroic act in the north-Iranian countryside. One rainy night near the village of Gorgan, a schoolboy disco... -
Pearls of the Persian Gulf: Dubai
دبی مروارید خلیج فارس
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1975 • Iran
In the early 1970s, Shirdel travelled around the Gulf making documentaries about the new states emerging there. In the just-formed Emirates, he befriended Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the film features footage of the you... -
Gas, Fire, Wind
گاز آتش باد
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1986 • Iran
After the Revolution Shirdel continued to make commissioned films as an independent filmmaker. mostly industrials. He made two Oil Films for the Oil Ministry, "Gas, Fire, Wind" is one of them. -
Wagon Pars
واگن پارس
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1987 • Iran
Shirdel made a fertile production of highly praised industrial and educational films. "Wagon Pars" is a fine example of his industrial documentaries. -
Genaveh Project
طرح گناوه
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1988 • Iran
A documentary about designing and executing the major project of laying four undersea pipelines connected to four oil terminals in persian gulf. -
Bonyad-e Mostazafan Industries
صنایع بنیاد مستضعفان
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1989 • Iran
Forbidden from pursuing his interest in observing and analyzing his society, Shirdel was forced to turn his creative and technical talent to the making of a great number of commissioned and institutional films. "Bonyad-e Mostazafan Ind... -
Shoga Company
شرکت شیشه و گاز
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 1990 • Iran
Along with the direction of his "Bonyad- Mostazafan Industries", Shirdel supervised the direction of short documentaries about each industry as well. "Shoga Company" is one of these short documentaries. -
Solitude Opus 1
تنهایی اول
Directed by Kamran Shirdel • 2002 • Iran
Waiting for Godot on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, an island where decay and luxury life are neighbors. A man in his eighties believes that he is still in charge of a complex for alternative forms of energy which was abolished long ago. The p...
