Close-Up

One cannot talk about the subtle integration of documentary and fiction without being indebted to Abbas Kiarostami and, in particular, Close-Up. The film follows Hossein Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonates the famous director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and convinces a family that he is preparing to make a film in which they will appear. When his deception is discovered, Hossein is arrested and put on trial for fraud. As the English-language poster reads: “A real life situation, based on a real incident, in actual locations, with actual people involved.” Kiarostami asks what it means for something to be “real” on screen, while simultaneously producing an undeniable feeling of realism.

Oct 4: Intro by Sophy Romvari

Some of my greatest moments of inspiration as a filmmaker have come from films that completely shatter the illusion of authenticity we’ve come to expect from not only fiction, but also the documentary form. I see both modes of filmmaking as simply means to an end: ways of constructing a finely crafted experience for the audience. To acknowledge that what is being watched is in fact a construction, but does that make it any less ‘real’ or ‘true’? I think about this question a lot, and it has been at the heart of my work for a number of years now.

With Blue Heron, I finally had a palette large enough to more fully explore that question through a narrative construction. By the end, I myself had to confront the limitations of the form itself. What a wonderful, devastating, and artistically complicated outcome, which Close-Up certainly lays the groundwork for.

Sophy Romvari, Leading Lights Guest Programmer

Media Partner