UCLA, at least, has Iranian film on its radar

UCLA Film and Television Archive’s 17th annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema is the largest in the program’s history with five narrative features, five documentaries and two short films. Surprisingly, none of the films has a theatrical distribution deal in the United States.

“Each year we usually have one sneak preview of a film that has been picked up and will be released in large cities,” says programmer Mimi Brody. “But this year we don’t have a single film.”

Two documentaries in the program have been banned in Iran, and both deal with the music scene in the country. “Back Vocal” is a documentary short about the ban against Iranian female solo singers. “Female singers in Iran singing solo are considered too provocative,” says Brody. “They have to sing in a duo or trio or as a backup singer for male soloists.”

“Sounds of Silence” also chronicles the ban on female soloists as well as looking at underground bands in the country.

Brody says she had a wealth of films to choose from this year. “People in the industry have said the past year or two haven’t been great for Iranian film,” she says. “But we were pleasantly surprised this year. Just because American distributors haven’t picked up many films [in the last few years] -- there are a lot of wonderful and worthy films that are under the radar. I think I saw 25 to 30 films to consider. There were so many strong works, we made space for them.”

Among the films in the festival, which takes place at the Billy Wilder Theater, are the 2005 romantic drama “When Fish Fall in Love,” which Brody describes as sort of an Iranian “Babette’s Feast”; Mani Haghighi’s 2006 allegory “Men at Work” -- Haghighi is scheduled to appear in person -- and “A Little Kiss,” Bahman Farmanara’s 2005 drama about writers and friends.

Brody says the Iranian program is one of the archive’s more popular events, pulling an audience mostly from the Iranian community. “What is of interest to them is that so many of these films won’t be available again and this might be the only chance to see them,” she says. “But we are also proud of the fact that we have built a crossover audience.”

In past festivals, films have explored the plight of women and children as well as politics and war. Brody says that this year, nearly half the films deal with male friendships and bonding.

Once such film is “Best in the West,” a first-person documentary by Maryam Kashani that focuses on her father, uncle and their male friends, who immigrated to San Francisco in the 1960s and ‘70s. Kashani, who will appear at the screening, interweaves their stories with the political and industrial history of Iran in the last century.

“I thought it was really important to incorporate a sense of politics and history to a very personal story,” says Kashani, who began the film as a student project at CalArts. “I traced the oil relations between Iran and the U.S. through the same period of time. My family randomly became involved in the oil industry by having gas stations [in San Francisco]. It seemed kind of ironic that they were from this nation that had such a hold on the industry.”

Kashani says there are many reasons why the bond among Iranian men is so strong. “Partially it comes from the cultural differences, which have partially stemmed from their religion in terms of just the way that males and females are kind of separate,” she says. “I think the communities are much closer and families are much closer [here]. Everyone knows each other. There is definitely a feeling of ‘We are all in this together.’ There is an immense amount of pride with them.

“I think that is part of the reason they never felt like outsiders here. They didn’t feel much racism in the 1960s, but in the ‘70s there was a lot more with the gas and hostage crisis. But they were such a strong-knit and prideful community. It really didn’t faze them.”

susan.king@latimes.com

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The 17th annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema

Where: UCLA Film and Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater, the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood

When: Saturday through May 11

Price: $7 to $10

Contact: (310) 206-FILM or go to www.cinema.ucla.edu

Schedule

Saturday: “When Fish Fall in Love,” 7 and 9:30 p.m.

April 14: “Men at Work” and “Men Understand Each Other Better,” 7:30 p.m.

April 25: “Best in the West” and “Nose, Iranian Style,” 7:30 p.m.

April 27: “Sounds of Silence” and “Back Vocal,” 7:30 p.m.

April 29: “Mainline,” 7 p.m.

May 4: “A Little Kiss” and “A Little Bit Higher,” 7:30 p.m.

May 5: “Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution,” 7:30 p.m.

May 11: “To Be a Star,” 7:30 p.m.