Once Upon a Time, Cinema is a 1992 Iranian comedy film written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...

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Plot

Set in the Qajar era

Qajar dynasty

The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....

, the film follows the character known as the cinematographer (Mehdi Hashemi

Mehdi Hashemi (actor)

Mehdi Hashemi , born in Langrud, north of Iran in 1946 , is an Iranian actor, screenwriter, and director.He studied performance art and graduated in 1973 from the University of Tehran, Iran. The actor began his theatre/cinema career with Dariush Farhang in 1969...

) as he shows films to the Shah

Shah

Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...

 (Ezzatolah Entezami). The film shows clips from older Iranian films from the silent age onwards. The Shah falls in love with an old film character, Golnaar (Fatemeh Motamed-Aria

Fatemeh Motamed-Aria

-Selected filmography:* Reyhaneh * Nassereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema * Mosaferan * Honarpisheh * Hamsar...

). After she leaves the movie, she appears in and enters the "real" world.

Accolades

Naser-ed-din Shah won two Special Jury Prizes from the Istanbul International Film Festival

Istanbul International Film Festival

The Istanbul International Film Festival is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts , a non-profit organisation. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, Turkey...

 and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....

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