Past screening

Celluloid Underground

Directed by: Ehsan Khoshbakht
Runtime: 1h 20min Certificate: 12A
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Details

Directed by: Ehsan Khoshbakht
Runtime: 1h 20min Certificate: 12A
Topics: History & Archive
Last Screened: Thu 11th Apr 2024

As a film-obsessed young man growing up in Iran after the 1979 revolution, Ehsan Khoshbakht pined for celluloid film reels.

His dreams were answered when he met a maverick, underground film collector who had rescued and hidden thousands of banned 35mm prints, to save them from fundamentalist fanatics. The two men became close collaborators and friends, united in the love of cinema and rebellion against its censorship and destruction.

Years later, living in exile in London, now an edified critic and curator himself, Ehsan has crafted this elegiac tribute to his friend – and to the power of cinema. Superbly crafted through film clips and his own archive, this is a resonant story of kinship, resistance and cinephilia.

The screening on Thursday the 28th of March was followed by a Q&A with director Ehsan Khoshbakht. Hosted by film critic Elena Lazic.