The Lizard by Kamal Tabrizi (Iran, 2004, 110 min, 35 mm)

Synopsis:

Now banned in Iran by clerics disgruntled by for its impious slapstick, The Lizard has nonetheless become a smash hit (reformist President Muhammad Khatami allegedly arranged a private screening). In a brilliant comic set-up, a petty thief escapes prison by disguising himself as a mullah. Inevitably, he’s forced undercover for longer than expected and, while struggling with his unwieldy new wardrobe, finds himself becoming the revered leader of a small-town mosque. The result is a smart, sincere comment on contemporary Iran: biting and sardonic, but also surprisingly religious.
In Farsi w/English subtitles

Post-screening panel discussion with Mazyar Lotfalian (Yale University) and Negar Azimi (Harvard University)

Filmmaker’s Bio:

Kamal Tabrizi, born in 1959, graduated in Cinema and Television from Art University. He began his artistic activities at the student’s society of Polytechnique College and then joined the cultural sections of I.R.I.B. television where he made a number of short and feature-length documentary and T.V. feature films. His first feature is The Passage (1988) which he wrote and directed. His subsequent films are At the Altar of Love (1990), End of Childhood (1993) and Leyli Is With Me (1995), which launched a new trend in treating war and the sacred defense themes in a comedic and satirical vein. Tabrizi then made Sheyda (2000), and Carpet of the Wind, Take a Look at the Sky Sometimes (2002). Tabrizi has also directed two T.V. series Tales of the River (an Iran-Malaysia Co production, unreleased), and Years of Rebellion. Tabrizi was also jury member at several editions of the short Film Festival organized by the Young Cinema Society.

Festivals and Awards:

•Best Screenplay, Special Jury Award, Best Popular Films, and Interfaith Juries Award, Fajr Film Festival, 2004

Reviews:

Disenchanted by their theocratic government, many Iranians enjoy the not uncommon sight of a gowned cleric standing helplessly at the side of the road, hailing taxis that refuse to stop. They make fun of akhunds, an impolite word for mullahs, and crack jokes about seminarians whose ambition is to parrot their teachers' every banality. Iranians have always chuckled in private. Until April 21st, that is, when Marmulak (Lizard), a film that contains these and other impious jibes, came out in several Iranian cities. Kamal Tabrizi's comedy, about Reza, a fugitive criminal disguised as a mullah, is very funny. But it is also a taboo-breaker, which is one reason it has enjoyed the most successful opening in Iranian film history.
—The Economist

Gibson's Passion of the Christ takes back row to Iranian film that has taken Islamic republic by storm.
—Farhad Pouladi, www.middle-east-online.com

Print Source:

Amir Kalantari
Iranian Film Society
1828 Euclid Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
Phone: 510-888-2226 Fax: 510-540-5443
E-mail: info@irfilms.com