Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (2001)

Iranian filmmaker Bahman Farmanara wrote, directed, and stars in this autobiographical drama of an artist reaching beyond the limits of censorship. Farjami (Farmanara) is a movie director living in Iran who has not been permitted to make a picture since the Post-Revolutionary Censor Board came into effect two decades earlier. Suffering from a serious cardiac condition, Farjami is convinced he does not have long to live, so he makes plans for one final project -- a film on burial rites, which may or may not include his own funeral. Farjami's new production, which requires him to research the nuts and bolts of burial practices, at once forces him to come to terms with his mortality and leads him to yet another conflict with the authorities determined to prevent his self-expression. Farjami also encounters a woman who shares with him a terrible secret -- and unwittingly implicates him in her wrongdoings. Booye Kafoor, Atre Yas is Farmanara's first film since Saiehaieh Bolan De Bad in 1979. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi