"Tehran Has No More Pomegranates" Screening

Willow Films, in association with SoCiArts Productions will be presenting TEHRAN HAS NO MORE POMEGRANATES’ first theatrical release in Los Angeles on November 5 and 6, 2008 at the Landmark Theatres, in West Los Angeles; a post-modern documentary that tells the story of Tehran, the capital city of Iran. The film captures the many paradoxes and quirks of this city that may be unknown to the world. Beyond this, it is also a documentary about one nation’s encounter with modernity and the social, urban and political changes it can cause.

Directed by Massoud Bakhshi, made over a span of five years, TEHRAN HAS NO MORE POMEGRANATES tells the story of the director and his crew who are on a mission to make a film about their hometown, Tehran, but have hit a wall and must explain to their overseers at the Documentary Film Center why their project cannot be completed. They decide to investigate the city’s past in order to better understand the present. What follows is a sarcastic and comic narrative about Tehran’s transformation from a small village into a megapolis of increasing urban mess, pollution, inadequate housing, class gaps and the fatal destiny of its delicious pomegranates. Using an energetic mix of rare archival footage from the past 150 years, unconventional photography, mock interviews and a playful soundtrack, the aesthetic and cultural values of old and new Tehran are brought to life. In the process, director and crew embark on a self-discovery, realizing that while they belong to a drastically transformed Tehran, being a “Tehrani” is a timeless state of mind.

TEHRAN HAS NO MORE POMEGRANATES has received many critical acclaims and festival nominations and awards, including:

· Official Selection HOTDOCS, IDFA, Full Frame, Rotterdam Film Festivals

· Winner, Best Director, 25th International Fajr Film Festival

· Winner, Best Director, 11th House of Cinema Film Festival

· Winner, AVINI Prize, Best Documentary of the year 2007

· Winner, Audience Award, CINEMA VERITE International Documentary Film Festival

Variety recognized the film by reporting, “An imaginative and engaging history of Tehran, TEHRAN HAS NO MORE POMEGRANATES uses a petulant, barbed humor to show how the city has undergone a sea change to become the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Young documaker Massoud Bakhshi doesn't make any earth-shaking revelations, instead delivering a steady stream of irony about his drastically transformed society, where even such an apparently harmless topic as change is subject to state censorship.”