The Emergence and Development of Digital Film-Making in Iran

Abstract

Iranian digital film-making, which has emerged and developed since 2000 in the Iranian cinematic context, mainly follows a trend based on the nature of new media. However, this trend is subject to fluctuation because of specific aspects of Iranian cinema. In addition, due to the realistic cinematic culture of Iran and the presence of Iranian neorealism film-makers, we face the emergence of a new kind of film-making which has certain international effects in world cinema. These film-makers have found a new method to approach reality and represent it in their films. On the other hand, this new cinematic reality contains more elements from a representation of reality than the analogue one, due to the power of digital cameras and technology. In this research, firstly I investigate the emergence of digital film-making in Iran, which may be unique to some extent compared to other parts of world cinema, and I show the gradual development of this phenomenon up to 2013. This investigation will reveal which parts of Iranian cinema have undergone the most changes. In the next steps, I focus on Iranian neorealism (Iranian art house cinema) and also on Iranian big-budget films. In the former, I focus on changes in the ‘representation of reality’, which I argue is the main characteristic of this mode, and in the latter I show the newly established relationship between governmental desire and the new digital special effects. Thus, I believe I will cover most of the changes that have been occurring in Iranian cinema due to the digitalisation process.