An exhibition of a collection of Mahmoud Kalari’s photographs was opened last night at the Park Mellat Cinema Multiplex in a ceremony held jointly by the House of Cinema and the Symorgh Committee, House of Cinema’s Public Relations announced.

The ceremony was attended by members of the House of Cinema’s Board of Directors and a number of artists including Alireza Raisian, Iraj Raminfar, Jafar Panahi and Ahmad Reza Garshasbi, to name a few.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour talked about Kalari’s unpublished photographs, saying: “Mr. Kalari has been planning to have this exhibition for 2 or 3 years now, and with the cooperation of the House of Cinema and the Symorgh Committee it finally came about in time for the 10 day anniversary of the Islamic Revolution this year. Fortunately, the exhibited photographs are also published in a book, which will be introduced today.”

Asgarpour further added: “One of the other activities of the House of Cinema in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran is the compilation of a collection of feature films, shorts, documentaries and animations. The collection is aimed at introducing different productions of the post revolution Iranian Cinema, a task which was accomplished with the support of the President’s representative Dr. Ayoubi.”

Dr. Ayoubi said in turn: “I’m taking the opportunity here to thank Mr. Mir Karimi for all his effort in compiling this cinematic collection. We have prepared a collection of works representing the 30 years of post revolution Iran, two of which are being introduced here.”

Later on, Mahmoud Kalari personally visited the gallery, offering explanations to the visitors on some of the photographs in the book and the dominant atmosphere of the year 1978-9.

During the opening ceremony of his photo gallery titled the “Revolution Road”, Kalari described some of the exhibited photographs for the audience. On the main entry of the collection, a photograph of a large mass of people crowding together on the skeleton of a half constructed building, he explained: “This was an unfinished building in Enghelab Street with only a metal skeleton and a few rows of bricks, and it could collapse at any moment, but people took the risk and climbed it nevertheless. This building, which was always packed with people, became one of the symbols of the people’s demonstrations.”

The exhibition will be running for 10 days at Park Mellat located at the Niayesh junction Vali-e Asr Street.