“The Cow” to moo at Tehran cultural center

TEHRAN,June 20(MNA) -- The restored version of the acclaimed Iranian drama “The Cow” will go on screen at the Niavaran Cultural Center tomorrow. Produced in 1969, the film was recently restored by Iran’s National Film Archive and the Farabi Cinema Foundation for presentation at the Reflet Médicis, which screens works from the world cinema in the original languages and also organized debates and meetings with the film crews on June 4. Director Dariush Mehrjuii was in Paris last week to attend the premiere of the tragic comedy film at the Reflet Médicis. Mehrjuii made “The Cow” based on one of the stories from celebrated Iranian writer Gholamhossein Saedi’s short story collection “The Mourners of Bayal”. The film is about Masht Hassan, who owns the only cow in a remote, desolate village. While he is away, his cow, whom he treats like his own child, dies. Knowing the relationship between Masht Hassan and his cow, the villagers hastily dispose of the corpse, and when Masht Hassan returns, they tell him that his cow ran away. Devastated by the news, Masht Hassan starts to spend all his time in the barn eating hay and slowly begins to believe that he has become the cow. “The Cow” won the International Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1971. It was the first award the Iranian motion picture industry ever received at an international event. The screening will be followed by a review session at the center.