Made clandestinely with little money and a skeleton crew, Sohrab Shahid Saless’s 1973 debut feature is a quietly, mysteriously simmering masterpiece.

A Simple Event follows a few days in the life of a young boy living beside the Caspian Sea. Remarkably, Shahid Saless inspires viewers to respond emotionally to characters seemingly devoid of any feeling themselves; the simple event of the film’s title refers, perhaps, to a sudden and tragic death, or perhaps instead to the mundane sounds of dogs barking and crickets chirping.

This feature will screen with the short film Rhythm (dir. Manouchehr Tayyab, 1964).

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Iranian New Wave: 1962–79 and the original film program it is based on are curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, Codirector, Il Cinema Ritrovato, with Joshua Siegel, Curator, and La Frances Hui, Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.