The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) plans to organize a screening of the American black comedy and crime film 'Arsenic and Old Lace' from 1944. The film, directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant, will be shown on Monday at 6:00 PM in the Nasseri IAF hall with Persian subtitles. Film critic and translator Shahzad Rahmati will attend the screening.
>The screenplay was written by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and is based on the 1941 play of the same name by Joseph Kesslering. The plot revolves around Mortimer Brewster, a Brooklyn writer who writes about the futility of marriage and risks his reputation by deciding to get married. The situation becomes complicated when he discovers that his beloved aunts, Abby and Martha, are serial killers.
The play 'Arsenic and Old Lace' was created by Joseph Kesslering, the son of German immigrants and a former professor at Bethel College, a pacifist Mennonite college. It was written amidst the anti-war sentiments of the late 1930s.
Capra researcher Matthew K. Gunther argues that the deep theme of both the play and the film lies in the United States' complexity in accepting both the positive and negative consequences of the freedom the country proclaims and which the Brewsters demand. Despite their house being the most beautiful on the street, there are twelve bodies in the basement. This inconsistency serves as a metaphor for the country's struggle to reconcile the violence of its past with the pervasive myths of its role as a beacon of freedom.
Frank Capra (1897–1991) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter born in Italy. He was a creative force behind several major films that received awards in the 1930s and 1940s. Capra became one of America's most influential directors in the 1930s, winning three Academy Awards for Best Director out of six nominations. Among his iconic works were the films 'It Happened One Night' (1934), 'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town' (1936), 'You Can't Take It with You' (1938), and 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (1939).
After World War II, Capra's career began to decline, as his later works, such as 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946), received poor reviews upon initial release. He withdrew from filmmaking in the mid-1960s. However, in subsequent decades, Capra's films, including 'It's a Wonderful Life', have been re-evaluated positively by critics.
In addition to directing, Capra was actively involved in the film industry, engaging in various political and social causes. He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, collaborated with the Writers Guild of America, and headed the Directors Guild of America.
The final stage of production for the feature film 'Molla Nasreddin: Friend of Difficult Days' has started in Kazakhstan. Filming has already covered five Turkic countries, including Uzbekistan, and the dialogues in the film will be presented in six different languages.
The final scenes of the film are planned to be shot in Almaty, Almaty region, and Turkestan. This project is dedicated to the history of Molla Nasreddin, one of the most famous characters of Eastern folklore, whose stories combine satire, life wisdom, and humor. The creators aim to use the hero's image to demonstrate the common cultural traditions and motifs of Turkic peoples.
The film crew visited countries such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan before moving the work to Kazakhstan. Key filming locations include Almaty, Almaty region, and Turkestan, with some shots to be taken near the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.
The project was initiated after the 40th meeting of the Permanent Council of Ministers of Culture of TURKSOY in Shusha in 2023.
The director and screenwriter is the People's Artist of Azerbaijan, Vagif Mustafaev. The role of Khoja Nasreddin is played by the Honored Artist of Kazakhstan, Sagizbay Karabalin. The cast also includes Konysbek Bekaydarov, Ondasyn Bekyskbasov, and Akerkke Aris.
The film is characterized by its multilingualism: the characters will speak Kazakh, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, and Uzbek. The authors view the film not just as an adaptation, but as a joint cultural enterprise designed to showcase the common worldview of the peoples of the region through the familiar figure of Molla Nasreddin.
It is worth noting that Timur Bekmambetov previously worked on an animated project about Khoja Nasreddin, where he held positions as film director, screenwriter, production designer, producer, and founder of the company Bazelevs.
The New York Film Festival (NYFF) has announced its main selection of 32 films for its 64th session, which includes four world premieres, among them a new documentary by Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi.
This documentary, titled 'I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies,' features Nasser Bakhshi—an artist, conceptual artist, collector, and curator whose extensive archive documents collective memory.
The 76-minute film, shot in 2026, shows Bakhshi alongside his wife Roghaieh Najdi, whose surreal paintings complement her husband's work by commenting on the status of women in Iranian society. In the documentary, Haghighi uses a unique visual language that echoes the works of directors such as Bergman and Parajanov.
Nasser Bakhshi, born in Tabriz in 1982, is a self-taught artist living in Azerbaijan, far from the hustle and bustle of Tehran. His museum-archival complex in the northwestern city of Tabriz emphasizes the necessity of individual stories for forming a complete picture; the process of collecting them is itself an artistic act.
Bakhshi's artistic practice focuses on images related to time, space, and existence. He primarily works with large-scale paintings and found objects to express his concerns and anxieties. Bakhshi's style is characterized by universal imagery hinting at the nation's upheavals and unease during a period of change.
Bakhshi's first officially registered exhibition was titled 'Mapping Within: An Alternative Guide to Tehran and Beyond' in Dubai in 2015. His most recent exhibition took place at the Bavand Gallery in Tehran in 2025. Although he exhibits more frequently in Iran, he has also had showings in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates. Over the last decade, Bakhshi has held no fewer than six solo and 11 group exhibitions.
He has participated in as many art fairs as biennials. A significant exhibition was 'Dust' at the Ujazdowski Castle Contemporary Art Centre in Warsaw in 2015. Other notable showings have taken place at Frieze London in London and at the Dastan Gallery in Tehran.
Among contemporary Iranian filmmakers, Mani Haghighi, aged 57, stands out for his refusal to adhere to simple categorization or genre. As a film director, writer, producer, and actor, Haghighi was educated in Iran and studied at Appleby College in Canada from the age of 15. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from McGill University in Montreal, where he staged plays by Pinter's 'Betrayal' and Shakespeare's 'Macbeth.' He later continued his studies at Guelph and Trent universities.
In 2001, Haghighi returned to Iran and worked for several years in advertising, shooting television commercials, educational films, and documentaries. His first feature film, 'Abadan' (2002), was the first independent Iranian feature film shot on digital camera, and it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002.
The comedy 'Men at Work' (2006), based on the idea of Abbas Kiarostami, was screened in the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival and received several international awards, including the Asian Film Award for screenplay.
In 2006, Haghighi and Asghar Farhadi wrote 'Fireworks Wednesday'—a social drama in a realistic style addressing issues of class and alienation in modern Tehran. The film, directed by Farhadi, premiered in the competition section of the Locarno Film Festival and won the Best Screenplay award at the Nantes Three Continents Festival. It also won the Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival.
'Canaan' (2007), the second collaboration between Haghighi and Farhadi, was based on the story 'Post and Beam' by Canadian Nobel laureate Alice Munro. This film marked Haghighi's departure from absurdist black comedy towards a more straightforward narrative about family conflicts. The film won the Audience Award in the international section of the Fajr Tehran Film Festival.
'Modest Reception' (2012), the fourth feature film, was co-written with theatre director Amir Reza Kouhestani. Returning to the theme of absurdism, the film tells the story of two city dwellers (starring Haghighi and Taraneh Alidoosti) who travel through an unknown, mountainous, and war-affected region, giving money to poor residents in exchange for increasingly sadistic demands. The film premiered in the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival and won the NETPAC award.
The film 'A Dragon Arrives!' was shot on locations in the Star Valley on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf and was shown in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival in 2016.
In 2016, Haghighi released '50 Kilos of Sour Cherries'—a popular romantic comedy that became the third highest-grossing film in Iranian cinema history in its year of release.
In 2018, the film 'Pig' was released—a black comedy about the adventures of an outlaw director falsely accused of serial killing colleagues. It premiered in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival and subsequently won the l'Amphore d'Or award for Best Film at the Greenland International Film Festival.
In September 2022, his latest work 'Subtraction' was presented in the Platform section of the Toronto International Film Festival. This new film, a co-production between France and Iran, explores a married couple who seem to have found their doubles.
From 2007 to 2016, Haghighi produced and directed two documentaries about Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui. The shorter film 'Hamoun's Fans' (2008) is dedicated to the phenomenal success of Mehrjui's cult film 'Hamoun' (1989). Haghighi launched an open competition for anyone who considered themselves a fan of this film to write him a one-page explanation of why they loved it. From hundreds of responses, he selected five people to tell their stories.
The second film, 'Mehrjui: The 40 Year Report' (2015), is an exploration of all of Mehrjui's work through detailed interviews with Mehrjui himself, as well as his collaborators and critics. The film won the Best Documentary Director award at the Fajr Film Festival.
The New York Film Festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center in partnership with Rolex, is an annual celebration of the most significant international films of the season. NYFF plays a key role in shaping film culture since its founding in 1963 and continues its tradition of introducing audiences to bold and outstanding works by renowned cinematographers, as well as new talents. The 64th session will run from September 25 to October 12.
