Cinema in Iran

1. Iranian cinema began long before 1997.
2. and has become an international phenomenal, a New Wave on par with the French movement of the 1950s and 60's, the German movement of the 60's and 70's and the Hong Kong movement of the u80's and 90's.
3. The directors behind the two groundbreaking films were Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Abbas Kiarostami.
4. Iranian filmgoers knew their names long before we did, of course, as evidenced by Kiarostami's extraodinary 1990 film Close-Up.
5. Kiarostami also made the discovery that government censors tended to more quickly approve stories about children, many other filmmakers would follow suit over the next 20 years.

Dogme

Dogme:
All filming must be done on location. All props &sets can not be brought on location. If a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found.
Sound can not be produced, it must be real.
You must use a hand held camera, and it cannot stand still.
Only natural light. Only, if necessary, use ONE lamp connected to the camera.
Optical work and filters are forbidden.
The film must not contain superficial action
Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
Must not have a genre.
The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen.
The director must not be credited.
This is different from neorealism because not only is it reality, its also very strict and has lots of qualities of a low budget films.

Italian neo-realism

neo realism originated around wwII and put a realistic view on what was going on.

It's no accident that Michael Tolkin chose neo-realism's classic Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948) to rock his studio exec's world in The Player. Though it's in some ways anti-Hollywood, neo-realism drew a great deal from American noir writing and films. Luchino Visconti based Ossessione (Obsession, 1942) on James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice. Visconti used long takes and complex shots to convey the dismal and ridiculous world of the three protagonists, the lovers (played by Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai) and the husband they bump off (played by Juan De Landa). Visconti's neo-realism heightens the interplay between characters and surroundings, the bleak, unforgiving interiors and street shots reflective of the lousy hand these no-hopers have been dealt.

International v. Hollywood

International Cinema: Metropolis, The Last Laugh, Battleship Potemkin, Arrival at a Train Station.
Hollywood Cinema: Angeles With Dirty Faces, Modern Times, On the Waterfront, Double Indeminty, His Girl Friday, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, What a Wonderful Life.
They both have great story lines. Only international movies have less restrictions, The acting styles are almost the same, The stories don't end the same, and the heroes are some what different.