TEHRAN – An exhibition displaying a collection of posters for the hits of Iranian cinema during the 1980s and 1990s opened on Tuesday at Tehran’s Charsu Cineplex.

The showcase has been organized to spice up the 38th Fajr International Film Festival, which opened at the cineplex on Wednesday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the veteran graphic designer Ebrahim Haqiqi who has created posters for numerous Iranian movies, “In the early 1980s, when the Farabi Cinema Foundation was launched, its managers asked for posters of high international quality.”

“Our designers proved that they could deliver such posters,” he added.       

“Many of those posters are now on view at this exhibition and several of them were awarded during international festivals,” Haqiqi noted. 

A poster for celebrated filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s 1990 masterwork “Close-Up”, which was created by Haqiqi, is a highlight of the exhibition.

“I designed that poster, but I did not put my signature on it,” Haqiqi said and added, “Because, Mr. Kiarostami rejected my proposal to sign it jointly.”

“When I was preparing the design for the poster, he proposed that I use a font applied to a brand of toothpaste of the same title for ‘Close-Up’… it was a creative suggestion.”

Haqiqi said that no poster was published for Iranian new wave cinema filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui’s 1989 cult film “Hamun”.

“I designed a poster for the film, however, it was never published… only several stills from the movie bearing the writing ‘Hamun, a film by Dariush Mehrjui’ were published to introduce the film,” he said.

The exhibition, which will run until June 2, is also showcasing a collection of posters for a number of Cuban films. 

Photo: Graphic designer Ebrahim Haqiqi speaks during the opening ceremony of a film poster exhibition at Tehran’s Charsu Cineplex on May 24, 2021. (FIFF/Sahand Taki)    

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