Sacred Defense cinema

Sacred Defense cinema (Persian: سینمای دفاع مقدس‎, romanized: Sīnimā-yi Difā'-i Muqaddas) refers to a genre of Iranian films that deals with various aspects of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988.[1] Although little noticed in the West, the genre has produced more than 200 movies. The first examples of Sacred Defence cinema were released while the war was still going on. Since then the genre has gone from strength to strength, producing both critical and commercial hits. Some of Iran's most noted directors have engaged with the genre, among them Ebrahim Hatamikia, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi and Kamal Tabrizi. Hatamikia is one of the most prolific and successful proponents of the genre.

In 2007, Iranian war cinema retrospectives were curated by Pedram Khosronejad and held in New York and at the Barbican Centre in London. The first comprehensive academic study in the West was published in 2012: Iranian Sacred Defence Cinema: Religion, Martyrdom and National Identity by Pedram Khosronejad.

Notable directors

• Morteza Avini
• Ebrahim Hatamikia
• Mohammad Bozorgnia
• Rasoul Mollagholipour
• Shahriar Bahrani
• Ahmad Reza Darvish
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Abolqasem Talebi

Notable films

• A Boat Towards the Shore, 1984
• A Military Base in Hell, 1982
• Abadanians, 1993
• Bashu, the Little Stranger, 1990
• Bravados, 1981
• Crossing, 1988
• Deliverance, 1983
• Fence, 1983
• From the Karkhe to the Rhine, 1993
• Horizon, 1988
• Identity, 1986
• Journey to Chazabeh, 1996
• Lover's Place, 1983
• Man and Weapon, 1988
• Mohajer, 1990
• Passage, 1986
• Snake Fang, 1989
• The 5th Kilometer, 1980
• The Eagles, 1984
• The First Bell (Fatemi)
• The Glass Eye, 1991
• The Little Soldier (Bakhshaian)
• The Scout, 1988
• The Sergeant, 1991
• The Stranded Bearer, 1985
• Two Semi Blind Eyes (Makhmalbaf)
• Union of the Good, 1992
• We Are Standing (Hor)

References

1. Minuchehr 2014.

Sources

• Minuchehr, Pardis (August 2014). "Pedram Khosronejad, ed. Iranian Sacred Defence Cinema: Religion, Martyrdom and National Identity (Canon Pyon, U.K.: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2012). Pp. 213. $110.00 cloth". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 46 (3): 631–633. doi:10.1017/S0020743814000804. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 43303206.

Further reading

• Abecassis, Michaël (May 2011). "Iranian War Cinema: Between Reality and Fiction". Iranian Studies. 44 (3): 387–394. doi:10.1080/00210862.2011.556390.
• Khakpour, Arta; Khorrami, Mohammad Mehdi; Vatanabadi, Shouleh, eds. (2016). Moments of Silence: Authenticity in the Cultural Expressions of the Iran-Iraq War, 1980–1988. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9781479805099.
• Khosronejad, Pedram, ed. (2012). Iranian Sacred Defense Cinema: Religion, Martyrdom and National Identity. Canon Pyon: Sean Kingston Publishing. ISBN 1907774173.
• Varzi, Roxanne (2006). Warring Souls: Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822388036.