New Course gives students a look at Iranian art

By Liz Wagner
Collegian Editor
January 30, 2008

“Teach a course on art film to American undergrads about Iran? Are you kidding?” was just one skeptical voice that philosophy professor Dr. Cornelia Tsakiridou faced when she decided to make Iranian cinema the focus of her Philosophy Looks at Film class.

“The course as I teach it has two objectives; one is to explore film aesthetically as a distinct form of art. The second objective is to introduce new ways of seeing the world by introducing distinguished international cinemas,” Tsakiridou said.

The class as a whole is not specifically geared toward Iranian films. Each time the class is offered it focuses on films from a specific country. When Tsakiridou took over the classes this year, she decided that her two sections both semesters would center around Iran’s film culture.

“I thought this kind of film is a wonderful way of introducing our students to a country whose civilization is remarkable, but also a country with which the United States has had many difficulties in the last 30 years.”

Chair of the Philosophy Department, Dr. Marc Moreau Ph.D. is in full support of the class.

“I applaud a course that can in a friendly way — through film— introduce La Salle students to perspectives from other parts of the world, and I am particularly happy that Dr. Tsakiridou decided to start by focusing on Iranian cinema. [People] need to get off our couches and out of our malls and show a little bit of interest in the larger world around us,” Moreau said.

After the revolution, the Islamic regime decided to keep cinema but heavily censor of it. But filmmakers learned to adapt. Directors would play a version of the movie that would be approved by the regime, and would then run their own version of their films in the Iranian movie theaters.

Iranian cinema received much international acclaim in the past 20 years. The regime is pleased with the positive public relations the cinema brings to the country. However, it must deal with the fact that filmmakers are not doing what the regime originally wanted.

Films that have been and will be covered in this course include Bashu, The Little Stranger by Bahram Beizai, Marriage of the Blessed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Runner by Amir Naderi and The Cow by Dariush Mehrjui.

“These films put us in the very heart of Iran. They take us from where we are at 20th and Olney and for two hours we dwell in this Iranian world — in its poetry, in its vision, in its people, in the struggle of directors to work creatively under censorship. I think it puts our eyes right where the country is instead of where the media presents it,” said Tsakiridou.

Some of the movies used in the class can be found on Amazon.com and have been circulated around the Unites States. For other films, however, Tsakiridou had to utilize a Web site whose company is based in Los Angeles, where there is a large Iranian population. The cases for these films are amateur-looking, almost like an American bootleg someone can buy off the streets. The subtitles aren’t the most accurate, but the caliber of the Iranian film is not diminished.

There have been mixed reactions about the course. Some students are excited to learn about a culture they were previously unfamiliar with. However, there are others for whom the class holds no interest. But Moreau believes the disinterest can be rectified.

“This student lack of interest is really a lack of care, and such lack of care is precisely what Dr. Tsakiridou is trying to turn around,” said Moreau.

“I find the class to be really interesting,” said sophomore social work major Kristin Moss. “I hadn’t any idea prior to the course that Iran had such an accomplished cinema.”

Tsakiridou is still deciding if she will continue with Iranian films for the fall semester or move on to another country’s cinema. She is considering Italian or Japanese film as her next film course.

“Very often our media represents Iran in very harsh, one-sided stereotypes,” said Tsakiridou. “I think there is much more to Iran than this rather truncated picture. I think it’s essential for us to know that so that we get a better sense of what the country is and what its people are.”

wagnere1@lasalle.edu