For Chicagoans anyway, this has been an exceptional year for Iranian movies, given the extended run of Asghar Faradi’s A Separation (the first Iranian film to win an Academy Award), the local premieres of Jafar Panahi’s heroic This Is Not a Film (which screens again at Doc Films on the 27th) and Rafi Pitts’s The Hunter, and the above-average selections (The Last Step and the personal essay My Home, which plays later this month) in the Film Center’s annual Iranian series. In this climate, it’s easy to overlook the two Iranian films playing this week at the International Film Festival, Adel Yaraghi’s Meeting Leila (which screens tonight and tomorrow at 8:30 PM and on Saturday at noon) and Bahman Ghobadi’s Rhino Season (which screens tomorrow at 3:30 PM, Saturday at 2:15 PM, and Sunday at 7:45 PM), though I’d say both films are worth your time.
