Albert Lamorisse — Baadeh Sabah (1970)
The following is the concise version of the article in the current issue of Bidoun (#19, Noise) which tells the incredible story behind Albert Lamorisse’s lost film:
- The ministry rejects it stating it doesn’t adequately portray Iran’s modernizations and industrial and urban developments (it was essentially meant to be a propagandist film)
- Lamorisse is called back to Iran with a list of specific locations to shoot: University students, factories, laboratories and the newly constructed Karaj dam
- Lamorisse expresses fervent concern over high tension wires over the dam
- The ministry provides him with the Shah’s personal helicopter pilot
- The helicopter gets caught in the wires and Lamorisse and all aboard die in a crash in the dam
- Lamorisse’s wife receives a sizable compensation package and with her son Pascal (star of the Red Balloon) finishes the film based on Albert’s notes
- Eight years later, it is released and nominated for an Oscar, though it was barely screened and never circulated
- Meanwhile, after the crash the Ministry crew retrieved the film from the dam and used the final footage shot by Lamorisse to make an absolutely beautiful 6 minute tribute film:
Read the full article here.