TEHRAN – An adaptation of Abbas Kiarostami’s 1997 Palme d’Or winner “Taste of Cherry” is going through post-production in Brazil.
Wagner Moura, the Brazilian actor who garnered an Oscar nomination for “The Secret Agent,” stars in Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso’s Portuguese-language adaptation, with the working title “The Scent of the Pitanga,” ISNA reported.
“It took me a little while to accept the idea,” said Kiarostami’s son Ahmad Kiarostami, who is an executive producer on the film. “But after I did, I told Lisandro that this is his film, so he makes all the decisions. ‘Taste of Cherry’ is a universal story and is not bound to a certain geography or even time”.
The choice of a local tropical fruit – the pitanga from the myrtle family – already signals this is not a straightforward remake. Rather, it is a reinterpretation of the story of a middle-aged man driving around the outskirts of Tehran asking strangers to do him a favor, which invites the audience to reflect on the value of life.
“I don’t need to see this new film necessarily as a fit into my father’s work. This is a different film, made by a different director,” Kiarostami said. “But I believe Lisandro has the right sensitivity. He’s brave enough not to follow the norm of cinema, which is an important part of the original film”.
Budgeted at $1.8 million, the film was shot in Palmas, the capital city of Tocantins state in the North Region of Brazil. It is set to be delivered in early 2027.
Kiarostami believes Brazil is perfect for a new take on “Taste of Cherry”. “We share a lot of qualities. I love Brazil and its warm and friendly culture,” he said, adding that he first visited the country with his father in 2004 when he was honored with a retrospective at Mostra de São Paulo.
“We kept telling each other that being in Brazil felt like being with family, even though we didn’t speak the language.”
Since the release of “Taste of Cherry,” multiple other critics have also declared it a masterpiece; in the British Film Institute’s 2012 Sight & Sound poll, six critics and two directors named it one of the 10 best films ever made. “Taste of Cherry” was also named the 9th best film of the 90s by Slant Magazine.
Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) was a film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, he was involved in the production of over 40 films, including shorts and documentaries. He attained critical acclaim for directing “Close-Up” (1990), “The Wind Will Carry Us” (1999), and “Taste of Cherry” (1997). In later works, “Certified Copy” (2010) and “Like Someone in Love” (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively.
He was part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and emphasized the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with philosophical issues. He is known for his use of Persian poetry in the dialogue, titles, and themes of his films. His films also contain a notable degree of ambiguity, an unusual mixture of simplicity and complexity, and often a mix of fictional and documentary elements. The concepts of change and continuity, in addition to the themes of life and death, play a major role in Kiarostami’s works.
Ahmad Kiarostami will participate in a panel discussion with Alonso and Brazilian producer Vania Catani of Bananeira Filmes as part of the 50th Mostra de São Paulo at the São Paulo Museum of Image and Sound (MIS) on October 24. It will be preceded by the screening of two works directed by Kiarostami in 2016, the year he died: “Take Me Home,” a visual essay in short format, and “24 Frames,” a documentary that explores his fascination with photography.
As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Mostra, MIS also hosts the exhibition “Steps – Unpublished Photographs by Abbas Kiarostami,” featuring 60 black-and-white images of stairways photographed by the director around the world.
Photo: Wagner Moura in a scene from “The Scent of The Pitanga”
SS/SAB
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