The deeply moving “Qaleh – The Women’s Quarter” (1966) shows the life of prostitutes in Tehran’s city brothels, an area known as Shahre Now. The film closely follows a number of women and communicates how the burden of social constraints led them to surrender in the face of their common fate. By including photos in the film, a very unique and artistic approach that brings to mind Chris Marker’s classic La Jeteé, Shirdel not only tempers the subject’s emotional heaviness but also respects the individual’s privacy, two pitfalls that often afflict films that deal with themes of this nature. The film does explore the possibility of re-education and development for these women, but in no way does it paint over the hard and brutal reality. As the film closes, a magnificent scene shot in slow motion leaves us with the memory of this ugliness forever imprinted in our minds.

The film was produced on behalf of the Organization of Iranian Women and was immediately banned while shooting was still going on. After the revolution, a portion of the material was found, and Shirdel decided to finish the film using photos by the late Kaveh Golestan that were taken more than ten years after the film itself was shot.

Qaleh.AKA.Womens.Quarter.1966.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	18 min 8 s
Size: 	409 MiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	698x574 ~> 743x574
Aspect ratio:  	1.296
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	2 931 kb/s
BPP: 	0.293
Audio
#1:  	Persian 2.0ch MP2 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/3A9A7B437036A4E/Qaleh.AKA.Womens.Quarter.1966.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

Language(s):Persian
Subtitles:English [Hardcoded]

The post Kamran Shirdel – Qaleh AKA The Women’s Quarter (1966) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Begins with a narration extolling the virtues of a solar energy complex over maps and shots of the place. The focus then shifts to an elderly gentleman lumbering about a section of the complex not doing much of anything. The film unfolds in near total silence save the waves crashing against the shoreline nearby, occasional gusts of wind, and a closing excerpt from Vivaldi’s Sonata No. 6 in A Minor. At one point, a few police cars drive up, but nothing much comes of it. Then we are taken inside the man’s small room to catch glimpses of his daily life. Very reminiscent of Saless’ Still Life, with no dialogue after the opening narration, which by the end appears to have been rather sardonic, if not poignant. Produced by Filmgrafic, the company Shirdel founded in 1968.

Tanhaeeye.avval.AKA.Solitude.Opus.1.2002.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	18 min 25 s
Size: 	217 MiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	686x568 ~> 731x568
Aspect ratio:  	1.287
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	1 423 kb/s
BPP: 	0.146
Audio
#1:  	Persian 2.0ch MP2 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/9AB033EEAF265A2/Tanhaeeye.avval.AKA.Solitude.Opus.1.2002.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

Language(s):Persian
Subtitles:English [Hardcoded]

The post Kamran Shirdel – Tanhaee-ye Avval AKA Solitude Opus 1 (2002) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

“Tehran is the Capital of Iran” (1966-79) documents life in a deprived district in the south of Tehran. The images of destitution in Tehran’s poor areas is accompanied by a variety of spoken accounts: the official viewpoint on the district’s living conditions, what the inhabitants have to say, and occasional extracts read out of school manuals. The key element in Shirdel’s film is the counterpoint effect he creates with image and sound. His impressively powerful portrayal of social unease helps reinforce the impact of his astonishing documentary images and social themes.

Teheran.payetakhte.Iran.ast.AKA.Tehran.is.the.Capital.of.Iran.1966.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	17 min 40 s
Size: 	418 MiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	698x572 ~> 762x572
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	3 082 kb/s
BPP: 	0.309
Audio
#1:  	Persian 2.0ch MP2 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/A08C24E3AE9C510/Teheran.payetakhte.Iran.ast.AKA.Tehran.is.the.Capital.of.Iran.1966.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

Language(s) Persian
Subtitles included: English [Hardcoded]

The post Kamran Shirdel – Tehran, Payetakht-e Iran Ast AKA Tehran is the Capital of Iran (1966) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

“Women’s Prison” recounts the life of the prisoners and the problems their families encounter in their struggle to survive. Here again filmmaker Kamran Shirdel employs the cinema verité style. The interviews with the prisoners, social workers and teachers serve as commentaries for “constructed” documentary images. The technical process shows the extent to which solving social problems depends on everyone’s cooperation and participation. Certainly prisoners alone cannot offer the remedy to the entire catalog of social ills that propel these women into delinquency.

221MB | 10m 37s | 765×574 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/3EB4C141F334B85/Nedamatgah.AKA.Womens.Prison.1965.DVDRip.MP2.x264-Arya.mkv

Language:Persian
Subtitles:English hard subs.

The post Kamran Shirdel – Nedamatgah AKA Women’s Prison (1965) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Also known as The Epic Of Gorgan Village Boy, is a modern-day epic that attempts to retrace the true circumstances of a heroic act in the north-Iranian countryside. One rainy night near the village of Gorgan, a schoolboy discovered that the heavy rains had washed away the soil underneath a section of railroad tracks. He proceeded to stop an oncoming train by lighting his coat on fire, standing on the tracks and waving it. Doing so, the schoolboy prevented a terrible railroad accident. Incorporating newspaper reports and interviews with railroad employees, the governor, the chief of police, the village teacher, students and villagers, Shirdel describes the events, or better, the divergent recollections of them. The skilfully and cyclically edited footage is riddled with contradictions. How could this young hero have set fire to his coat in the pouring rain? Did he even exist? According to one toothless old man, “It’s all just a pack of lies.”

765MB | 38m 20s | 765×574 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/B46A3387320513E/An.shab.ke.barun.amad.AKA.The.Night.It.Rained.1967.DVDRip.MP2.x264.mkv

Language(s):Persian
Subtitles:English hard subbed

The post Kamran Shirdel – An shab ke barun amad AKA The Night it Rained (1967) first appeared on Cinema of the World.