Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast
From Kiarostami to Abbasi, from Farrokhzad to Amirpour. From pre-revolutionary cinema to modern times. Join Iranian-Canadian filmmakers Kaveh Mohebbi and Faran Moradi (a screenwriter and a director) as they embark on a crash-course on all that Iranian cinema has to offer episode-to-episode one film at a time.
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Episodes
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
The struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
This episode also features an interview with Morvarid Sadinejad
Directed by Jafar Panahi. This movie can be found on Apple TV in Canada, as well as Prime and Apple TV in the USA.
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
An American woman trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutal husband must find a way for her and her daughter to escape. This film is available to view on Prime Video.
Thursday Jun 06, 2024
Thursday Jun 06, 2024
An Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
This episode also features an interview with Alex Eskandarkhah with the Collective for Black Iranians.
Directed by Bahram Beyzaie. This movie can be found on YouTube.
Thursday May 16, 2024
Thursday May 16, 2024
An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he takes his own life. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
This film is available through the Criterion Channel
Thursday May 02, 2024
Thursday May 02, 2024
Follows a chaotic, tender family that is on a road trip across a rugged landscape and fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others' nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet. Directed by Panah Panahi.
This film is available through Prime Video in Canada, Pramount+, Apple TV+ and Showtime in the USA, and Channel 4 in the UK.
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with spirituality and gratitude. Directed by Forough Farrokhzad.
This film is available through the Criterion Channel.
Thursday Apr 04, 2024
Thursday Apr 04, 2024
Rahmat has been asked to meet the inhabitants of these islands to collect their tears. Although for years people have been giving their tears to Rahmat, no one knows exactly what he has been doing with them. Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof.
This film is available to view on YouTube.
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
The classic Iranian comedy about a villager named Samad in his first theatrical foray, as he faces off against a team of gangsters who attempt to steal a priceless artifact from his girlfriend, Leila. Written, directed by and starring the illustrious maestro of Iranian cinema, Parviz Sayyad. The movie is available for viewing on YouTube.
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992). Directed by Abbas Kiarostami.
This film is available through Criterion
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
Two teachers in attempt to recruits wandering Kurdish refugees as their pupils, after the chemical bombing of Halabja by Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. Directed by Samira Makhmalbaf.
Kaveh Mohebbi
Kaveh Mohebbi is an Iranian-Canadian screenwriter who received his MA in Screenwriting at the London Film School (UK). Soon after he was a graduate of the Second City writing program where he wrote and produced the mainstage show. Apocalypse Now, Desert Later. In 2013 Kaveh was invited into the CFC Writer’s Lab, which led to his involvement as co-writer on a number of short films including the Official TIFF Selection, STILL and the Official Austin Film Festival Selection, Life on Juniper. Writing credits include, This Hour has 22 Minutes, CBC Gem's Communist Daughter, Overlord and the Underwoods. Nickeodeon's kids animated Hamsters of Hamsterdale and Season 1 and 2 of Amazon's first Canadian scripted comedy The Lake. Kaveh currently has an hour long detective comedy Sandcastle in development with E1 as well as a half-hour comedy, Laughganistan, in development with Cameron Pictures and Amazon.
Faran Moradi
Faran Moradi is a CSA-nominated Iranian-Canadian filmmaker, born and raised in Ontario. Faran recently made his first feature film a romantic-comedy set in the Toronto Iranian community called Tehranto, which was nominated for multiple CSAs, was shortlisted for Sundance 2021 and won Cinequest’s Best Feature in 2022. Tehranto recently completed its Canadian and American theatrical runs, and is now available On Demand. Faran went on to direct and edit on Emmy Award winning TV shows including Odd Squad, and write and direct the award winning short film Blackpowder and Guilt. He most recently directed 4 episodes of Holly Hobbie (Hulu) and 2 episodes of the upcoming show Dino Dex (Prime).