Oldest Cinema Document on Display

The oldest document about films in Iran is on display at Cinema Museum in Tehran until May 18. Written a century ago, the document is from the Qajar era (1786-1925) and establishes that the film industry in Iran dates back to February 1900, Mehr News Agency reported on its Persian website. It belongs to Golestan Palace Museum in Tehran and is a decree issued by King Mozaffar al-Din Shah (1853-1907) in which he assigned the renowned court photographer Mirza Ahmad Khan Sani al-Saltaneh to purchase cinematograph, a motion picture film camera and projector.  The document unveiled on May 9 in a ceremony attended by scholars and filmmakers and the museum offers special brochures on the ancient document and history of cinema in Iran. Cinema was barely five years old when it came to Iran at the beginning of the 20th century. After a visit to Paris in July 1900, court photographer Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkas Bashi (1874-1915) obtained a camera and filmed Mozaffar al-Din’s visit to Europe upon the king’s orders. Pioneering photographer and cinematographer Mirza Ebrahim Khan Sahaf Bashi was the first one who screened short films for people of Tehran in 1904. The screening took place at the back of his antique shop. But in 1905, he opened the first film theater on Cheragh Gaz Avenue in the capital. However, it was after more than a century that Iranian filmmakers began receiving respect and recognition in the global cinema industry. Cinema Museum is located in Bagh-e-Ferdows neighborhood, Valiasr St., near Tajrish Square.