FIVE

Five Iran/France

One of the two Abbas Kiarostami films to be screened at this year's Festival'both of which premiered at Cannes this year'Five is an utterly contemplative and meditative abstract work. An homage to the Japanese cinematic master Ozu, the film is composed solely of five single shots, inviting the viewer, as Kiarostami states, 'To look at things that in themselves are not particularly worth looking at'.

While at a house on the fringes of the Caspian Sea, Kiarostami picked up his digital video camera and recorded the happenings on the stretch of beach outside his door. Five unscripted, unedited scenarios are presented to us: a piece of driftwood is tossed by the waves; people stroll along the beach; a group of dogs romp playfully in and out of the water; ducks noisily move from one side across the frame to the other; and a pond is shot at nighttime with a chorus of sounds breaking the stillness. 'an entire world is revealed to us', Kiarostami says. 'It's a work that approaches poetry, painting. It let me escape from the obligation of narration and of the slavery of mise en scène.'

'Five will still be around, analysed, quoted and appreciated, long after fashionable hits of the day are gone and forgotten.' -screen International

D/P Abbas Kiarostami WS MK2 TD Video/Col/2004/74mins

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran in 1940. Films include: Homework (1990), Taste of Cherry (MIFF 1998), The Wind Will Carry Us (MIFF 2000), Ten (MIFF 2003).