Ebrahim Golestan's fictional and cinematic worlds

Abstract

This dissertation offers an analytical exploration of Ebrahim Golestan's (1922-2023) role in shaping modern literature and cinema in Iran, focusing on his contributions as a writer, translator, filmmaker, producer, and influential intellectual figure. Golestan emerged as a prominent figure in Persian fiction and played a pivotal role in the emergence of New Wave Cinema in Iran (Mowj-e No) in the early 1960s. As Hamid Dabashi remarks, "Golestan stands today as one of the most significant literary voices of his generation and a founding figure of Iranian cinema" (Dabashi, 2007, p. 89). Despite the significance of his work, Golestan's contributions and the interplay between his literary and cinematic legacies have not received comprehensive scholarly attention.
Golestan's career began as a journalist affiliated with the Tudeh (Masses) Communist Party, a major political force in 1940s Iran. Disillusioned by the Party's pro-Soviet stance, he shifted his focus to photography, short story writing, and translating works by George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Mark Twain into Persian. His association with the Iran Oil Company and the Iran and British Oil Consortium led to the creation of some of Iran's earliest industrial documentary films. Later, he established his own independent film studio, pioneering independent filmmaking in Iran. His films are distinguished by their unique style, narrative, artistic qualities, and politically subversive content.
Golestan's oeuvre transcends conventional boundaries, encompassing a broad spectrum of artistic practices, from poetic depictions to anthropological explorations, political allegories, and philosophical discourses. This thesis employs Bill Nichols' theory to analyze Golestan's poetic vision and expository approach in his documentary films. It also utilises neo-formalist readings of his fiction films through David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's neo-formalist film theory and Alexander Astruc's concept of the caméra-stylo (camera-pen), viewing film as an audio-visual language with the filmmaker wielding the camera like a writer wielding a pen. This approach allows for the establishment of links between Golestan's films and his stories, exploring his position as an auteur film director within Iranian New Wave cinema. The interplay between his literary and cinematic oeuvres is the focal point of this research.
The central hypothesis posits that comprehending modern and New Wave cinema in Iran requires acknowledging Golestan's often overlooked and undervalued contributions. This research seeks to rectify this oversight by shedding light on Golestan's remarkable body of work. This study investigates Golestan's films through an auteurist lens, focusing on the thematic and aesthetic coherence across his films. This critical approach is especially fitting for a modernist creator like Golestan, who maintained significant artistic control by both writing and directing his screenplays. Furthermore, the autobiographical elements present in his narratives enhance the suitability of an auteurist perspective, as these personal themes are prominently featured in his storytelling. It also examines how Golestan played a crucial role in laying the foundations of New Wave cinema by developing a cinematic style that defamiliarised conventional norms of filmic narration, paving the way for a generation of filmmakers to break free from formulaic storytelling while addressing pressing social issues through their lenses.

Date of Award	4 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Saeed Talajooy (Supervisor)