Film Screening - Secrets of the Treasure at the Ghost Valley

A pioneer in filmmaking and literature, Ebrahim Golestan has influenced generations of Iranians in various fields of art for more than half a century. Golestan published his first collection of short stories entitled, "Azar, the Last Month of autumn" in 1948.
Golestan began journalism as a writer, then editor, early in the 40’s, and photography as a freelancer with news organizations in 1951. Later he produced several landmark documentaries and feature films such as "A Fire" (1961), "Wave, Coral, Rock" (1959/1962), and "Marlik Hills" (1963). His first narrative film “The Mudbrick and the Mirror” (1963/4) is considered by many historians as the first of the social realism wave in Iranian cinema. At the same time, he continued to write and publish his work in fiction. “Hunting the Shadow” (1955), “The Brook, the Wall, and the Thirsty One” (1967), “Tide & Fog” (1969) and “Secrets of the Treasures at the Ghost Valley (Asarare Ganje Darehye Jenni)” (1971/3), “The Cock” (1974) are examples of his published works of fiction; and “The Words Spoken” (1995), a selection of his lectures, literary criticism and interviews, and some narrations for films.
Golestan has made valuable contributions as a translator of great works of literature such as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and several of Hemingway's stories.
Golestan’s feature film, “Secrets of the Treasures at the Ghost Valley”, was banned before and after the 1979 revolution. The film presents an insightful, thought provoking account of dynamics of various social strata of Iranian society at a historical juncture, best described by the director as “the twisted image of a twisted situation”. Tirgan 2011 is proud to present this influential and rarely seen masterpiece of Iranian cinema.