The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present
First Graders
Avaliha
When
Wed 22 Jun 2022
Kiarostami’s first feature-length documentary presents a devilishly amusing series of candid interviews with hot-headed, rebellious and tardy first graders who have been sent to the principal’s office for bad behaviour.
The film balances the interrogation of the students with an empathetic insight into the role of the headmaster and the fundamental problem of discipline. Prefiguring future directions in Kiarostami’s cinema, the film evolves into a narrative of one student’s anxiety about their first day of school.
Screens with
Program
Reaching beyond the frame: the poetic cinema of Abbas Kiarostami
Where is the Friend's House? (1987) – Wed 8 Jun, 7pm
Homework (1989) – Wed 8 Jun, 8.40pm
A Wedding Suit (1976) – Web 8 Jun, 10.05pm
Through the Olive Trees (1994) – Wed 15 Jun, 7pm
The Experience (1973) – Wed 15 Jun, 8.55pm
Fellow Citizen (1983) – Wed 15 Jun, 10.05pm
First Graders (1985) – Wed 22 Jun, 7pm
First Case, Second Case (1979) – Wed 22 Jun, 8.40pm
The Traveller (1974) – Wed 22 Jun, 9.45pm
About the program
When essayist and critic Phillip Lopate claimed that “we are living in the Age of Kiarostami, as once we did in the Age of Godard”, he highlighted both the crucial emergence onto the world stage of Iranian cinema and the specific qualities of Kiarostami’s contemplative, gently questioning, porously self-reflexive and overwhelmingly poetic work.
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About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
