[custom_adv] In recent years, post-revolutionary persian cinema has been praised in many international forums. What has attracted international audiences to this national cinema is its distinct style, themes, authors, idea of nationhood, and manifestation of culture. [custom_adv] In this essay, I will contextualize the emergence of this new cinema by providing a brief historical background of persian national cinema, with an emphasis on the foundations of filmic art in that region. [custom_adv] If one were to trace the first visual representations in persian history, the bas-reliefs in Persepolis would be one of the earliest examples. Persepolis was the ritual center of the ancient kingdom of Achaemenids. As Honour and Fleming state, “the figures at Persepolis remain bound by the rules of grammar and syntax of visual language. [custom_adv] This style of visual representation reached its high peak about a thousand years later during the Sassanian reign. A bas-relief in Taq-e-Bostan depicts a complex hunting scene. [custom_adv] Movements and actions are articulated in a sophisticated manner. We can even see the progenitor of the cinema close-up: a wounded wild pig escaping from the hunting ground . [custom_adv] After the Arab invasion and conversion from Zoroastrianism to Islam —a religion in which visual symbols were avoided — Persian art continued its visual practices. Persian miniatures are great examples of such attempts. The deliberate lack of perspective enabled the artist to have different plots and sub-plots within the same space of the picture. [custom_adv] A very popular form of such art was Pardeh-Khani. Similar to the Benshi of silent Japanese cinema, a Pardeh-khan (narrator) would uncover the painting as the story progressed. Another type of art in the same category was Nagali. A Nagal (or storyteller) would do an entertaining performance usually in Ghahve-khanes (coffeehouses), which were the main forums for cultural interactions between people. [custom_adv] As a performing artist, Nagal had to possess a good oratorical and singing voice as well as theatrical talent. Above all, the Nagal relied on his imagination a great deal, to improvise according to the audience’s feedback and add to the original tales that he was reciting. [custom_adv] He would also acquire inspiration from the images and pictures fixed on the walls – pictures of religious leaders, sport heroes, epic characters – and appropriate them into his narrative. The dominant themes in Nagali were epics depicted from Shah name or the story of Alexander’s quest for the elixir of life.
