Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Close-Up (1990) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Hossain Sabzian, Monoochehr Ahankhah, Mahrokh Ahankhah, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Nayer Mohseni Zonoozi DIRECTOR: Abbas Kiarostami CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ali Reza Zarrindast PRODUCTION: Kanoon

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Close-Up (1990). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

Close-Up is based on actual events that occurred in Northern Tehran in the late 1980s. Kiarostami first heard about Sabzian in 1989 after reading about the incident in an article in the Iranian magazine Sorush by journalist Hassan Farazmand. Kiarostami immediately suspended work on the film project for which he was in pre-production.

Taken by the figure of the impostor, he began making a documentary on Sabzian. Kiarostami was allowed to film Sabzian's trial. He gained the agreement of Sabzian, the Ahankhahs, and journalist Farazmand to participate in the film and to re-enact past incidents. Kiarostami also arranged for director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to meet Sabzian and help facilitate the Ahankhah family's pardon for Sabzian.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 2 wins & 2 nominations total

CRITICAL RECEPTION

When the film opened in Iran, reviews were almost uniformly negative. The film gained its first appreciation abroad.

In 2010 Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Lim described the film as eloquent and direct, saying that it provided "a window into the psyche of a complicated man and into the social and cultural reality of Iran." In 2022, the film was ranked as #17 in the Sight and Sound's critics' poll of The Greatest Films of All Time, published by the British Film Institute.