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An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement

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An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement

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Cinema Iranica (May 2, 2024) An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement. Retrieved from https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/an-overview-of-apartment-dramas-in-iranian-cinema-after-the-green-movement/.
"An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement." Cinema Iranica - May 2, 2024, https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/an-overview-of-apartment-dramas-in-iranian-cinema-after-the-green-movement/
Cinema Iranica December 4, 2023 An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement., viewed May 2, 2024,<https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/an-overview-of-apartment-dramas-in-iranian-cinema-after-the-green-movement/>
"An Overview of Apartment Dramas in Iranian Cinema after the Green Movement." Cinema Iranica - Accessed May 2, 2024. https://cinema.iranicaonline.org/article/an-overview-of-apartment-dramas-in-iranian-cinema-after-the-green-movement/

The emergence of the Green Movement in Iran, a response to the disputed outcome of the 2009 presidential elections, significantly impacted numerous lives. Linked to middle-class concerns in the late 2000s, this movement catalyzed a surge of apartment dramas in Iranian cinema, profoundly shaping its trajectory until the mid-2010s. These events were not coincidental. The rise of moral considerations among the middle class, traceable back to at least the 1997 presidential elections and the unexpected success of Seyed Mohammad Khatami, the representative of Iranian Reformists, peaked in 2009 within the Iranian political and social sphere. Post-Green Movement, Iranian cinema underwent substantial change. Filmmakers explored the social issues of the primary class associated with the Green Movement, viewing apartment dramas as an opportunity to narrate stories about society’s core concerns. Iranian cinema experienced transformations in the mid-2000s, driven by economic shifts and strategic decisions by film executives. The combination of these events, coupled with the groundbreaking film A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2010), led to the emergence of the apartment drama trend during the post-Green Movement era. 

This article examines the apartment drama trend in Iranian cinema post-Green Movement. After exploring factors contributing to this trend, several apartment dramas produced between 2010 and 2015, including A Separation, Felicity Land (Maziar Miri, 2010), Melbourne (Nima Javidi, 2013), and Blind Spot (Mehdi Golestaneh, 2015), are evaluated in terms of thematic concerns, especially the discussion of different economic and social classes, and character development. Finally, the factors contributing to the decrease in the production of apartment dramas in Iranian cinema from the mid-2010s are discussed.