Iran’s ‘Homework’, inspired by Kiarostami’s masterpiece, to go on screen at IDFA

Iranian documentary, ‘Homework,’ inspired by Abbas Kiarostami’s 1989 work of the same name, is among the participants at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in the Netherlands.

Iranart: Co-directed by Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Neamtollahi, ‘Homework’ is a remake of the late Iranian filmmaker’s masterpiece, which “aims to look into the country’s school system and educational methods 30 years on,” ISNA quoted Nejati as saying.

“The idea of the film had haunted us for some five years – since we first watched the original film – and we decided to make the documentary with the same narrative method and even the camera angles as in Mr. Kiarostami’s film,” added Nejati.

“The film was made in 2019, before the coronavirus broke out in Tehran. We wanted to shoot the film in the same school as in the first ‘Homework,’ but, unfortunately, it has been replaced by a new building,” the co-director said.

Kiarostami’s documentary consists of several interviews with schoolchildren and their parents, during which they’re asked about the old-fashioned homework assignments and practices in Iran.

IDFA, which started on Wednesday in Amsterdam, running through November 28, is the world’s largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988.

Source: Iran Daily