It’s been a full four years since writer/director Abbas Kiarostami premiered his last film, “Like Someone in Love,” in Competition at Cannes. So it’s only appropriate, then, for his next project to be announced during the ongoing festival festivities. “24 Frames” is now officially the director’s newest film, and while details are being kept mum at the moment, it’s evident the prolific Iranian filmmaker has kept himself plenty busy throughout these past few down years.
Though specifics are limited, reports suggest Kiarostami’s latest will be compiled entirely of 24 four-and-a-half-minute short films, all made throughout the past three years. Hence, the 24 frames-in-question. Even at 75-years-old, the acclaimed filmmaker continues to find exciting new ways to reinvent himself, and we’ll be happy to see what his next effort offers.
It’s unclear where Kiarostami stands in the creative process, but it seems “24 Frames” must be coming along pretty nicely. Plans are already in place to release “24 Frames” either later this year or sometime in early 2017, and some audience members have already gotten a peek at Kiarostami’s latest when he presented two of the four-minute segments at Lumiere festival during a tribute to Martin Scorsese in November. The footage was described at the time as “fixed tableaus,” based on five paintings and nineteen photographs, with “the use of blue-screening techniques the tableaux come to life, thus introducing the dimension of time into the original still image.” Sounds like nothing we’ve quite seen before, and that’s something worth getting giddy about, even if Kiarostami will likely have to miss his annual stop at next year’s Cannes to showcase it. Oh well. That just means we get to see it sooner. [Variety]