No One Knows About Persian Cats
No One Knows About Persian Cats (Persian: کسی از گربه های ایرانی خبر نداره, romanized: Kasi az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh) is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi produced by Wild Bunch. The film offers perspective of Iran as it explores its underground rock scene. It won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
| No One Knows About Persian Cats | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bahman Ghobadi |
| Produced by | Bahman Ghobadi |
| Written by | Bahman Ghobadi Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar Roxana Saberi |
| Starring | Hamed Behdad Ashkan Kooshanejad Negar Shaghaghi |
| Music by | Ashkan Kooshanejad Mahdyar Aghajani |
| Cinematography | Turaj Aslani |
| Edited by | Haydeh Safi-Yari |
Production company | Mij Film |
Release date | May 14, 2009 |
Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | Iran |
| Language | Persian |
Plot
The film follows two young musicians (Ashkan and Negar) as they form a band and prepare to leave Iran shortly after being released from prison. The pair befriends a man named Nader (Hamed Behdad), an underground music enthusiast and producer who helps them travel around Tehran and its surrounding areas in order to meet other underground musicians possibly interested in forming a band and later leaving the country.
Cast
- Hamed Behdad
- Ashkan Kooshanejad
- Negar Shaghaghi
Bands and musicians
- Take It Easy Hospital
- Rana Farhan
- Hichkas
- The Yellow Dogs
- Shervin Najafian
- Ash Koosha
- Mirza (band)
- The Free Keys
- Mahdyar Aghajani
- Darkoob
- Hamed Seyed Javadi
- Nik Aein Band
International cinema release dates
- 23 December 2009: France[2]
- 3 February 2010: Belgium
- 26 March 2010: UK
Limited Release: Curzon Soho & Key Cities[3]
- 16 April 2010: USA (New York City only)
- 16 April 2010: Italy
- 15 July 2010: Israel[4]
Reception
Awards and nominations
Its first official screening was at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section.
- Cannes Film Festival:
- Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section (won)
Accusations
Shortly after the release of the movie, Iranian director Torang Abedian accused Ghobadi of having used many ideas for his movie from her documentary Not an Illusion, made from 2003 to 2008 and released in the same year. According to Abedian, her camera operator got a call from Ghobadi and left her afterwards to make the movie about the same topic with Ghobadi in a few days.[5]
References
- "Festival de Cannes: No One Knows About Persian Cats". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- http://www.festival-cannes.fr/fr/article/56923.html%5B%5D
- List of release dates and venues of No One Knows About Persian Cats on Brightwide Archived 2010-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
- List of upcoming movie releases in Israel, updated regularly by movie publishers and film journalists (Hebrew).
- http://oe1.orf.at/artikel/245863 - Austrian radio station Ö1
- Jeffery, Simon (29 October 2009). "Banned but not on the run at the London film festival". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
External links
- Underground Musicians Fight The Man In Tehran, NPR movie review by Mark Jenkins, 2010-04-15, accessed 2010-05-07.
- No One Knows About Persian Cats at IMDb
- In-depth review of the film and its soundtrack
- Behind the scene of No One Knows About Persian Cats
- No One Knows About Persian Cats Soundtrack
- This is music from a brave and extraordinary musical movement, BBC review