Persian by Abbas Kiarostami’s Cinema

Service Description

Designed for intermediate-to-advanced learners of Persian, this ten-session course develops listening comprehension, speaking, and writing through close engagement with the films of Abbas Kiarostami. Students will watch selected films, including The Report, First Case, Second Case, Where Is the Friend’s House?, Homework, Close-Up, And Life Goes On, Through the Olive Trees, Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Ten, paying careful attention to vocabulary, dialogue, narrative structure, sound, visual form, and cultural and historical context. Before each meeting, students will submit a short written response in Persian and receive focused, personalized feedback. The response may take the form of a reflection, poem, or short story inspired by the film. Class meetings will combine close analysis of the films with discussion of key scenes and dialogue, giving students the opportunity to present their interpretations and articulate complex ideas in Persian. Alongside the films, we will read selected scholarship in Persian and English and engage with several of Kiarostami’s interviews, practicing how to summarize and discuss scholarly arguments and the director’s own commentary in Persian while keeping the films themselves at the center of the course. The course situates Kiarostami within post-revolution Iranian cinema while examining defining features of his work, including religion, nature, the human condition under modernity, and the relationship between reality and fiction. By the end of the course, students will be able to discuss and write about Kiarostami’s films in Persian with greater depth, precision, and confidence, while developing a strong foundation in scholarship on his cinema. * The course starts during the first week of October and concludes in the second week of December, spanning 10 weeks (10 sessions). The exact days and times will be scheduled based on the availability of both the instructor and the learners. * Once learners enroll, Silk Road Academy will coordinate the class schedule, process payments, and manage administrative details. * Silk Road Academy can issue invoices so learners can request reimbursement from their affiliated universities or institutions. * Class days and times may be adjusted in accordance with the request of enrollees. * Registered participants will receive full access to recorded session videos and all course materials.