And Life Goes On

Even though And Life Goes On is a re-enactment, it looks completely realistic, down to the last detail: the collapsed buildings, cracked-open roads and crushed cars are all real remnants of the earthquake; Kiarostami invited survivors to play themselves, blurring the boundary between reality and fiction. But above all, Kiarostami creates an ode to the victims’ resilience and the will to survive.

And Life Goes On screens to accompany the exhibition on Nuri Bilge Ceylan in Eye. Programmer Thijs Havens: “You could see Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s trilogy Kasaba, Clouds of May and Uzak as a parallel to Kiarostami’s 'Koker trilogy': these are all films connected at different levels of fiction and non-fiction. In both cases, two of the films in the trilogy deal with the making-of or after-effects of the shooting period for one of the other films, with the director himself (played by an actor) also appearing as a character.”

Continuation

The one film is a continuation of the other. The film that follows is a commentary on its predecessor, which in turn is linked to the film that came before. And Life Goes On is a look back at the origins of Kiarostami's Where Is the Friend's House? (also screening in Eye), which was shot in the Koker earthquake zone. In Through the Olive Trees (also screening), we see a filmmaker directing an actor playing a director looking for the principal actors for Where Is the Friend's House? All of these films had a great influence on Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Screenings on 35mm (from the Eye collection) and DCP.