Raf Projects

Art and Culture Association based in Berlin and Tehran | Exhibitions, Talks & Workshops, Artists Residency, Art Production Projects and Publication

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A newly-founded agency that hovered over people’s private lives like a phantom and controlled their every move like an almighty and omnipresent god.

Video excerpt taken from "Brick and Mirror" (1964)

#ebrahimgolestan #franzkafka #existentialism #pahlavi

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One of the main qualities of “Brick & Mirror” is the omnipresence of an existential dread and fear. Most scenes take place at night, which along with the slums, odd strangers, peculiar events, a mourning ritual and complex bureaucracy, gives everything a Kafka-esque feel..

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Some critics interpret that fear as an allusion to the brutal modernization of Pahlavi, which alienated many people from their lives and communities. Others point to the excessive role of SAVAK agency as the proprietor of this misery and mayhem...

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The scene where Zakaria Hashemi encounters an unknown old lady in the slums is aesthetically and formally one of the most modern and beautiful scenes in Iranian cinema to this day.

Video excerpt taken from "Brick & Mirror" (1964)

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“Brick & Mirror” is a film of many ‘firsts’ for Iranian cinema. It’s the first Iranian film with a realistic portrayal of a woman as opposed to just another acclamation of cliches...

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the editing is not continuous, and much like contemporary American and European filmmakers, the director breaks the 180°-rule with poetic editing...

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Thus, we can regard “Brick & Mirror” as Iranian cinema’s first ever “urban symphony”.

Video excerpt taken from "Brick & Mirror" (1964)

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Many critics regard Ebrahim Golestan’s “Brick & Mirror” (1964), along with Farrokh Ghafari’s “Night of The Hunchback” (1964), as the first examples of modern films within Iranian cinema. An key quality that made “Brick & Mirror” ...

[Raf Projects @RafProjects]

We see Tehran documented both during the day and during its quiet and eerie nights“Brick & Mirror” also pioneered live sound recording in Iranian cinema and recorded the raw sounds of 1960s Tehran...

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Additionally, and much like the sound, the editing didn’t only serve linear storytelling; it would at times become aesthetically pleasing in and of itself and turn the film into a much more experimental experience.

Video excerpt taken from “The Hills of Marlik” (1963)

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One of the unique qualities of Ebrahim Golestan’s documentaries was his artistry in using sounds and words. With his documentaries, for the first time in the history of Iranian cinema, sounds weren’t only reporters of the image...

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Instead, there was a complex and dialectic relationship between what was viewed and heard. The scripts of his documentaries were at times official and informative, and at times unexpectedly poetic and heralds of broader concepts...

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we witness Ebrahim Golestan’s most brutal criticism of Pahlavi’s imported modernization.

Video excerpt taken from “Moj, Marjan & Khara” (1962)

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“Moj, Marjan & Khara” (“Wave, Coral and Rock”) is Ebrahim Golestan’s most essential documentary and an era-defining work of Iranian cinema. Ebrahim Golestan co-directed this film with Alan Pendry in 1962...

[Raf Projects @RafProjects]

cleverly emphasizes on the shallowness of the government's industrial advancements and highlights how deprived people were of the vast natural wealth in their country. In the film’s final scene, ...