ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: “The Color of Paradise” – a 1999 Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi will be screened here on January 16 at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Lok Virsa to promote the culture of classical cinema through both local and international classic films.
Starring Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi and Farahnaz Safari, the story revolves around a blind boy named Mohammed who is released from his special school in Tehran for summer vacation. His father, shamed and burdened by Mohammed’s blindness, arrives late to pick him up and then tries to convince the headmaster to keep Mohammed over the summer.
The headmaster refuses, so Mohammed’s father eventually takes him home.
Mohammed’s father, approaches to marry a local girl and tries to hide the fact that he has a blind son as he fears the girl’s family will see that as a bad omen.
Meanwhile, Mohammed happily roams around the beautiful hills of his village with his sisters. He touches and feels the nature around him, counting the sounds of animals, and imitating them. He displays a unique attitude towards nature, and seems to understand its rhythms and textures as a language. Mohammed goes to the local school with his sisters and reads the lessons from his textbook in Braille, which amazes the children and the teacher. His father takes him away and leaves him with a blind carpenter who mentors the boy, who wants to see God.
Majid Majidi’s The Color of Paradise is a sparse story, a modern fairy tale about a blind boy and his selfish father. Like all good fairy tales, The Color of Paradise becomes a fable about human fears and virtues, a story for adults as well as children. In his films, Majidi always searches for the purest feelings and most beautiful gifts, such as kindness. According to him, no other world is more simple, pure and magnificent than a child’s world.
“The Mandwa film club of Lok Virsa is an initiative taken by the institute to revive the classical cinema in the twincities and involve the fun lovers in healthy activities that keep alive the dying culture and traditions among the young generation,” said Fouzia Saeed, Executive Director, Lok Virsa while talking to APP.
The Lok Virsa screen national and international classical hits on every weekend and invite audience from all walks of life to entertain them as well as engage them in cultural programmes, she said.
Source: APP
