Ebrahim Golestan

Ebrahim Golestan
Ebrahim Taghavi Shirazi (19 October 1922 – 22 August 2023), known as Ebrahim Golestan, was an Iranian filmmaker and literary figure with a career spanning half a century.
Golestan was closely associated with the eminent Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, whom he met in his studio in 1958, until her death. He was said to have inspired her to live more independently. It could also be said that she inspired him in his artistic vision. He lived in Sussex, United Kingdom from 1975 until his death.
Biography
Ebrahim Golestan was married to his cousin, Fakhri Taghavi Shirazi (Fakhri Golestan). He is the father of Iranian photojournalist Kaveh Golestan, and Lili Golestan, translator and owner and artistic director of the Golestan Gallery in Tehran, Iran.
Golestan was a member of Tudeh Party of Iran, but broke away from the party in January 1948.
After Farrokhzâd's death, Golestân was protective of her privacy and memory. For example, in response to the publication of a biographical/critical study by Michael Craig Hillmann called A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry (1987), he published a lengthy attack against Hillmann in a Tehran literary magazine, to which Hillmann responded at length in an article, part of which was also published in the same Tehran literary magazine. In 2005, Golestan's long conversation with Parviz Jahed was published in Iran under the title "Writing with a Camera"(Neveshtan ba Doorbin).
In February 2017, 50 years after Farrokhzad's death, the 94-year-old Golestan broke his silence about his relationship with Forough, speaking to Saeed Kamali Dehghan of The Guardian. Golestan said: "I rue all the years she isn't here, of course, that's obvious. We were very close, but I can't measure how much I had feelings for her. How can I? In kilos? In metres?"
Golestan participated in the 2022 documentary See You Friday, Robinson. Director Mitra Farahani initiated an email exchange between Golestan and French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, with emailed text letters from Golestan and "videos, images, and aphorism" responses from Godard.
Golestan turned 100 in October 2022, and died in Sussex on 22 August 2023.
Works
Golestan started his film studio Golestan Films in 1957 and produced some documentaries for the National Iranian Oil Company. A Fire and Moj, Marjan and Khara are amongst these films. Golestan also produced the Forough Farrokhzad film The House is Black.
Books
Stories
Âzar, mâh-e âkher-e pâ’iz (Azar, the last month of autumn), 1948
Shekâr-e sâyeh (Shadow-hunting), 1955
Juy-o divâr-o teshneh (The stream, the wall and the thirsty one), 1967
Madd-o meh (Tide and mist), 1969
Rooster, 1995
Neveshtan Ba Dourbin, 2005
Filmography
Documentaries
Yek atash (A fire) (1961)
Moj, marjan, khara (1962)
The Hills of Marlik (1963)
The crown jewels of Iran (1965)
Drama
Brick and Mirror (1963)
Asrar ganj-e dareh-ye jenni (1974, aka The Ghost Valley's Treasure Mysteries)
References
Hamid Dabashi, Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema, 451 p. (Mage Publishers, Washington, DC, 2007); Chapter III, pp. 71–106: Ebrahim Golestan; Brick and Mirror.
External links
Golestan at tirgan Iranian Festival
Articles and short stories by Golestan on Iranian.com
Ebrahim Golestan - Poetry Foundation
Video interview with Ebrahim Golestan, by Masoud Behnoud, BBC, 2007
Jahed, Parviz, “Directors, Ebrahim Golestan”, Directory of World Cinema: Iran, Parviz Jahed (ed.), Intellect, Chicago. (2012).
Jahed, Parviz, "Brick and Mirror" ("Khesht va Āyeneh" ), in Persian, 15 May 2007
Ebrahim Golestan - International Film Festival Rotterdam
1922 births
2023 deaths
20th-century Iranian writers
Iranian centenarians
Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Iranian film directors
Iranian literary critics
Iranian male short story writers
Men centenarians
People from Shiraz
Tudeh Party of Iran members