TEHRAN-The digitally restored version of “Coming of Age” directed by Iranian filmmaker Sohrab Shahid-Saless will be shown at the Classics section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in February.

Made in Germany in 1976, the film, also known as “Time of Maturity” or by its German title “Reifezeit,” is a precisely observed, black-and-white drama of everyday life in Berlin’s working-class district of Wedding, ISNA reported.

The 111-minute film depicts the everyday life of a boy coming of age, living with his mother and saving money, dreaming of a bicycle.

The restoration was done as part of a transnational project by the Shahid-Saless Archive, with the goal of making the entire oeuvre of the Iranian director, who worked in Germany from 1974 to 1992, available.

Shahid-Saless (1944–1998) was a director and screenwriter and one of the most celebrated figures in Iranian cinema in the 20th century. After 1976 he worked in the cinema of Germany and was an important component of the film diaspora working in the German industry.

He made his first feature, the milestone film “A Simple Event” (1973), he describes the everyday life of a ten-year-old boy living in a small town with an ill mother and a father struggling to make a living smuggling fish. In contrast, “Still Life” (1974) explores the monotony in the life of an old railway switchman – a film that won many prizes, including one at the 1974 Berlinale.

In addition to Shahid-Saless’ film, nine others films have been restored and will be screened in the Classics section of this year’s Berlinale. The selection ranges from early sound film experiment to a sober and distanced black-and-white drama, to colorful, artful exploitation. All the restorations will be world premieres.

Among the restored versions, there are two gems by Ernst Lubitsch. One is his silent film “Kohlhiesel’s Daughters” and the other is his first talkie “The Love Parade”. Ishirō Honda’s “Gojira” (Godzilla), “After Hours” by Martin Scorsese, John Schlesinger’s “The Day of the Locust,” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice”.

The Berlinale is a unique place of artistic exploration and entertainment. It is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year. For the film industry and the media, the eleven days from February 15 to 25 are also one of the most important events in the annual calendar and an indispensable trading forum.

SS/