Cinema Cristal

Laleh Zar, a street in Southern Tehran, formerly the heart of cinema culture, is today filled with all kinds of light sources that are offered for sale. As a result of the Iranian revolution, Laleh Zars cinemas remain silent and closed. Yet they light up – in our minds... Laleh Zar — a street located in the city centre of Tehran, formerly home to several cinemas — is today characterised by a multitude of luminous elements, which are offered for sale alongside the street. The flow of images through light — cinema — seems to have broken apart into a variety of different light sources after the changes that the Iranian revolution has brought about. “Cinema Cristal” recombines these different fragments of light into a new composition, a dance of images in the manner of experimental film. On the soundtrack film lovers, witnesses, and theoreticians tell their memories, stories, and hommages related to Tehran’s cinemas. A film about the role of cinema as an aesthetic, social, and memorial space.