Centennial of the Iranian Cinema     17 August 2000 marked the centennial of birth of cinema in Iran. Ten decades ago, five years after the invention of the cinema by Louis Vaguest Lumer, Mozaffar-ed-din Shah Qajar, during his trip to France for medical treatment, marvelled at the function of the newly invented cinema, ordered Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkasbashi to procure cinematography and magic lantern apparatus and shoot his film. On the basis of the latest historical researches, 17 August 1900 is the first day when an Iranian stood behind a filming camera and shot a film of an Iranian. This documentary film shows Mozaffar-ed-din Shah at the Festival of Flowers in the coastal city of Ostand in Belgium. Mirza Ebrahim Khan returned to Tehran with his filming and screening equipment and the court was the only place in Iran where films were shot and screened. During autumn of 1903, Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkasbashi set up the first semi-public cinema theater at the present Mahna crossroad in Lalezar Avenue. After Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkasbashi, Mehdi Rousi too attempted to shoot films. However, it is Khan Baba Motazedi who should be recognized as the forerunner in the Iranian studio and film industry.   Khan Baba Motazedi founded the first cinema theater in Iran where films were exhibited especially for women. This theater was built in cooperation with Ardeshir Irani (owner of the Khorsheed (Sun) theater) at Alla-ed-din Street. The initial attempt to set up a film education and training center in Iran was made by Ali Vakili. However, this futile attempt subsequently bore fruits with the endeavors of Avans Oganians, an Armenian/Russian immigrant who later converted to Islam. The first Artistic Cinema School was inaugurated by Oganians on 14 April 1930 and, after enduring a turbulent period, commenced operation on 9 May 1930 enrolling 300 students. Upon completion of the first course of the Artistic Cinema School by 12 of the students, Oganians started film production in Iran. Sakura Leedzeh, a fellow citizen of Oganians, did the investment for the production of the film, called “Aabi & Rabi”. Mohammad Zarrabi and Gholamali Sohrabi were two of the first Iranian actors to have acted in this film that was based on a film by two Danish comedians named Pat and Patashone. The first film magazine of Iran called “Cinema and Exhibitions” was published in August 1930 by Mr. Ali Vakili. In June 1933 Avans Oganians commenced production of his second film called “Haji Aga – The Film Actor” with the joint investment of several persons as well as himself.   The film Haji Aga- The Film Actor was exhibited at Royal (now Nader) Theater on 31 January 1934. Since the first Iranian talking film The Lor Girl had been exhibited a few months earlier, the film Haji Aga- The Film Actor did not succeed in attracting much attention. The Lor Girl, a 130 minute sound movie, was a box office hit in Tehran and a big success. The film was produced by Abdolhossain Sepanta. In 1946, the first foreign film, dubbed in Farsi, was successfully screened and the initial steps were taken towards dubbing of films in Iran. During the years from 1900 through 1940 cinema theaters were build in Tehran and a number of provincial centers such as Tabriz, Mashad, Shiraz, Boushehr, Rasht, Abadan, Qazvin and Ahwaz. With the beginning of the World War II and influx of foreigners into Iranian lands, cinema become a tool for providing a visual information about war and informative films were much in demand. The present Iranian film art and industry owes a lot of its progress to two industrious personalities, Esmail Koushan and Farrokh Ghaffari. In a way, Esmail Koushan can be called the father of the Iranian film industry. During the second half of the forties, he pursued the production of films in Iran with great zeal and enthusiasm. He founded the Mitra Film Co. in 1946, importing film making apparatus and ceaselessly endeavored to produce films. The primary efforts that acquainted the Iranian cinema with alternative and artistic films of the world, were the efforts of Farrokh Ghaffari who founded the National Iranian Film Society. Ghaffari, having to his debut the direction of such films as The South of the City (1948), The Night of the Humpback (1964) and The Falconet (1975), is considered as one of the forerunners in nurturing the art of film making in Iran.   By establishing the first National Iranian Film Society in 1949 at the Iran Bastan Museum and organizing the first Film Week during which English films were exhibited, Ghaffari laid the foundation stone of alternative and non-commercial films in Iran. The nineteen fifties should be named as the decade of ethical melodrama for the Iranian cinema even though the production of historical films made their epoch during this period due to the endeavors of Dr. Kousha. Siamak Yasemi is the architect of a trend in the Iranian cinema that has been named as the visionary cinema trend. His first film, produced in 1953, displays his keen interest in cinema. He is also the producer of two other important and best selling films Mr. Twentieth Century (1964) and Quaroon's Treasure”(1965) that can be considered as sort of portraying a model of the Iranian cinema during the nineteen fifties and early sixties. The cinema book with the script of the film The Shah of Iran and the Arman Lady written by Zabihollah Behrooz in 1921 is believed by some to be the first Iranian Cinema Book. But however, the first Iranian theoretic book is the book titled The History of Cinema written by Joseph Loduca and translated by Hassan Safari and Ali Akbar Elmi and published in 1948. The first statutory law regarding film screening was proposed to the Government by the Ministry of Interior in October 1920. This law was proposed due to the difficulties, objections and complaints arising from the screening of films and cinemas in Tehran. In 1958, with the screening of the films The South of the City produced by Farrokh Ghaffari and Seventeen Days to Execution (1956) produced by Dr. Hooshang Kavoosi, the first signs of alternative films can be seen in the Iranian commercial films.