cinema trust Mohsen Azmoudeh wrote in Etemad newspaper: last week, on Wednesday morning, I happened to pass around Tehran University. The streets around the central campus of the university, like itself, is one of the most lovely and attractive areas of Tehran. The alleys and streets of this area, despite being relatively old and relatively dense, due to the proximity to various colleges and universities, bookstores and cultural centers such as Teatarshahr and Rudaki Hall and numerous cinemas and the beautiful Keshavarz Boulevard and Laleh Park and restaurants and cafes It is abundant and very busy and young and lively. Not like the one above is too loud and blind and quiet and similar to a dormitory, not like the one below, crowded and too market-oriented and involved in business and possibly male.
At the intersection of Vasal and Taleghani streets, I passed in front of the old and memorable new era cinema building. It has been several years since this cinema was closed and there is no news about it anymore, like many abandoned cinemas in Tehran, such as Koch Cinema in Gorgan Square (Namjo) and Rodaki Cinema (Metropol) and Shahr Ghazal Cinema (Valiasr Street below Jumoori Street) and Crystal Cinema (Lalezar) and Boulevard Cinema (Keshavarz Boulevard) and… the sequel that many of the city’s old cinemas are waiting for. I had even heard that they want to demolish and build the new age cinema building. That’s why whenever I pass by it, I look at it with concern and regret. This time, I saw a big yellow banner on the wall, instead of the name of the cinema, with the text: “This property is for sale” along with a mobile number.
It’s really sad. Much has been written and said about the new age cinema and its history. Personally, I have many memories of watching movies in this small and cozy cinema. New Era, which had a very catchy name and reminded of Chaplin’s masterpiece (1936) and the famous Sartre and Deboir magazine in France, did not broadcast every movie. It was a selection of work and according to the mood of the region, it screened so-called intellectual and artistic films. I was a child in the 60s, but many people from generations before us, even in the early 60s, had seen the works of cinematographers such as Tarkovsky, Bergman, and Parajanov in this cinema. Ever since I became a cinemagoer, I have seen important and great works on the relatively small silver screen of this cinema, works by Bahram Bayzaei, Abbas Kiarostami, Dariush Mehrjooi, Naser Taqvai, Khosro Sinaii, Masoud Kimiaei, and… the audience of new age cinema, less families Or happy couples who were professional cinemagoers and the term love of movies. The proximity of this cinema to cultural and academic centers and bookstores justified this trend.
Even now, I think it is possible to somehow preserve this cinema or at least its building. Of course, I am not an economic person and involved in financial and commercial affairs. I also know that the condition of the cinema halls, even the newly built cinemas that have been built in recent years under the name of “Campus” around the city, is badly depressed. Now the economy in general and the cinema in particular are in a bad state, and usually the cinema halls are closed.
Cinema people have no heart and nose for various reasons and they don’t put much effort into it, except to make a popular movie out of these popular comedies to make a living for themselves and entertain the people for one or two hours. But with all this, I think it is possible to do something so that the cinema of the new era does not suffer the fate of other abandoned cinemas. Finally, the place of this cinema is different from the examples I mentioned above. Still, this area of the city, as I wrote, is crowded and busy, and every year, new blood enters the veins of these streets due to the arrival of new students, hopeful and passionate young people who have just hatched and are looking for discovery. The world and experiences are new.
I don’t have money, but I think that a capitalist – which, thank God, we don’t have – can maintain the building of the new era in various ways, while also having economic benefits for him. For example, by turning it into a cultural center with a cafe and a book store and cultural products and showing classical or art films, etc., it is important that the building of the new age is preserved, not knocked down, and not turned into a hall where superior thought and energy can be gathered. Treatment, wedding and mourning are held. It should be a place for young people to come and come to and to come up with their new ideas. Of course, according to Shamlou, I know, I know, I know that all this requires the tolerance and freedom of cultural officials. The missing link that causes the whole chain to fall apart. But despite all this, I hope that a cultural investor will bear all these troubles and step forward and stop the destruction of our collective memories. Good evening