DUSHANBE, July 18, 2016, Asia-Plus -- An open screening of the film Taste of Cherry (1997) by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was held in the Dushanbe House of Cinema on July 16. 

The screening was initiated by Tajik Cinematographers’ Union within the framework of the Satyajit Ray Film Club.

Taste of Cherry is a minimalist film about a man who drives through a city suburb looking for someone who can carry out the task of burying him after he commits suicide.  It was awarded the Palme d''Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

Abbas Kiarostami (June 22, 1940 – July 4, 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer.  An active film-maker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in over forty films, including the well-known Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987), Close Up (1990), Through the Olive Trees (1994), Taste of Cherry (1997), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012).

The Satyajit Ray Film Club, which was founded in Dushanbe in the Eighteens at the initiative of the prominent Tajik filmmaker Davlat Khudonazarov for the purpose of popularizing heritage of world’s cinematography, has resumed its activities.  The Club serves as a regular platform for popularization of world and native auteur films in Dushanbe.  The Club also gives Tajik audience an opportunity to get acquainted with new works of Tajik cinematographers.

The screenings of Pather Pachali (1955) by S.Ray, Battleship Potemkin (1927) by S. Eisenstein, Roof of the World: Pamir (1928) by V. Yerofeyev, Man with a Movie Camera (1929) by D. Vertov and Emigrant (1934) by K. Yarmatov were already conducted in the framework of The Satyajit Ray Film Club.