A special dispatch from @screen_notes_didi: This year’s Il Cinema Ritrovato rescreened a rarely known title of Iranian New Wave—Cheshmeh (1972). It is the only feature film directed by filmmaker and writer Arby Ovanessian. According to Ovanessian’s introduction at the screening, Cheshmeh was produced between 1969 and 1971. It subsequently premiered at the first Tehran International Film Festival and received polarised reviews. At a time when most Iranian filmmakers tended to imitate the rhythm of American or French films, Ovanessian intended to create a tempo of Iranian cinema. Loosely based on the novel The Fountain of Heghnar (1935), Cheshmeh’s surreal and complex narration presents a story about a married Muslim woman caught in a forbidden love affair.
In the festival note, programmer Ehsan Khoshbakht highlighted the significance of the title: ‘With the screening of Cheshmeh, Il Cinema Ritrovato makes an important addition to the chapter it began in 2017, in discovering the cinema of Iranian-Armenians.’ Generally, film titles are rescreened because they are selected to be digitised or restored. However, not every title has this chance. In this case, Cheshmeh was selected due to its unique historical and cultural value. The film was screened on a 35 mm vintage print in Farsi with French subtitles, which was exhibited in a film programme in France in the 1970s and collected by Cinémathèque Française with Ovanessian’s permission. Therefore, Italian and English subtitles were added by the Il Cinema Ritrovato.
Photo credit: IMDB
Further reading:
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/cheshmeh/
https://notesoncinematograph.blogspot.com/2022/05/Iranian-films.html
