An unheralded landmark of Iranian cinema, Mohammad Reza Aslani’s debut feature is set during the rule of the Qajar dynasty and chronicles the fallout between heirs when a noble family’s matriarch passes away. Screened only once and long lost after the 1979 Revolution, The Chess of the Wind evokes the work of Luchino Visconti in its sumptuous, refined, and poetic rendering of aristocratic decadence. Featuring a remarkable score by the trailblazing film composer Sheyda Gharachedaghi and masterfully lensed by Houshang Baharlou, with a candle-lit grandeur reminiscent of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, The Chess Game of the Wind ranks among the great recent (re)discoveries of world cinema.

Directed by: Mohammad Reza Aslani
Production Year: 1976
Country: Iran
Length: 93 minutes

– Restored in 4K in 2020 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna from the original 35mm camera and sound negatives at L’Image Retrouvée laboratory (Paris) in collaboration with Mohammad Reza Aslani and Gita Aslani Shahrestani. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.