A Film by Mohammad Rahmanian
Bench Cinema | Cinema Nimkat
Set in an era when videos were against the law in Iran in the eighties...

JAVADA FILM Ltd.

It is set in an era when videos were against the law in Iran in the eighties. A man with the help of a group of cinema lovers decides to perform feature films in public places...

Nasi spends months after release from prison, watching films and memorizes all the lines. He then travels around to perform the films as a one-man show on a bench. Gradually he forms a theatre group called Cinema Bench...

During 1979-1992, a film lover Nasi who rents out illegal videotapes gets arrested. Whilst in prison he meets a voice actor, whom gives Nasi an address to the Chamber of Treasure that holds a great collection of classic films.

Nasi spends months after release from prison, watching films and memorizes all the lines. He then travels around to perform the films as a one man show on a bench. Gradually  he  forms  a  theatre  group called  Bench Cinema,  with  a  street  violinist, an insomniac visual artist, and a former actress.

As they find a place to perform, they encounter problems in other forms by a gang, led by a Chief. As they try to keep integrity, the film follows their journey as struggling artists.



"Rahmanian, a well-known theater director who has experienced the field of script writing, dedicated the centrality of the story in his film to a traveling performance group that in the 60's and 70's, when video was banned, used to play well known films in cinema history for people in remote villages and coffee houses.

In a conversation, Rahmanian talks about the atmosphere of the theater and his source of inspiration for Bench Cinema: "I remember a mechanical apprentice from my childhood, who described the movies in a very attractive way to others, and also did it with full details (location, special effects and songs). Since then, this good memory remained engraved in my mind and later I realized that my other friends also have memories of those who describe the movies well. The main character of "Bench Cinema" is also someone who describes movies well, and during the ban on videos, he decides to describe the movies he saw to the people on the outskirts of the cities. About ten years ago, I worked on the much shorter idea of ​​this story in the bench series that was broadcast on TV."

Ashkan Khatibi explains about the experience of working with Mohammad Rahmanian: "Now the discussion that this role was written in praise of music and cinema and that I play an instrument in this film is due to the fact that Mr. Rahmanian basically writes roles based on people's abilities and I don't think this as an easy endeavor or that any other actor has the ability to learn to play the violin in a limited period of three to four months, because this instrument is really a difficult one to learn. I think the role was written based on my abilities and I tried to use the maximum of my efforts in the minimum possible time. Of course, this does not mean that I am a capable person. Everyone has their own unique abilities, and mine is that I can play an instrument well."



Although Ashkan Khatibi's role in "‌Bench Cinema" is very different from the other roles he has played in terms of characterization and appearance, and according to himself, he suffered a lot of mental and physical injuries to play this character, but "Saba" of the Cinema Nimkat is reminiscent of other characters who admire music and are fascinated by cinema in Rahmanian's other works.

In an interview with the Art and Experience website, Ashkan Khatibi tells about the characteristics of this role, for which he lost almost 20 kilos: "I think everyone who sees this film will understand what abilities this role requires. Part of it is related to the physical conditions and what we are supposed to see as the physical and physical aesthetics of the actor, which is naturally my duty as an actor to do that."


Movie Info

        BENCH CINEMA | Cinema Nimkat (2016)

        Year of production: 2016
        Genres Art - Culture: First film
        Countries: IRAN
        Languages: FARSI
        Duration: 117 min.
        Director(s): Mohammad Rahmanian
        Writer(s): Mohammad Rahmanian
        Producer(s): Touraj MANSOURI
        Cast: Ali Omrani, Mahtab Nasirpour, Ashkan Khatibi, Hooman Barghnavard, Hossein Erfani,  Mohammad Amir Naji, Turaj Mansouri, Ali Esmaeili, Asghar Piran