Close-Up 1990

A film about an adventurer who posed as the famous director Mohsen Mahmalbaf, broke into a wealthy home (ostensibly to film a scene), and was arrested on suspicion of fraud and robbery. The trial forms the plot framework of the film, but its true subject is the special status of cinema in Iran. Here, cinema has become not only a part of the elite’s spiritual life, but also an element of personal and national prestige, and a treasure of the masses.