Few people knew what happened to Bahman Mohassess, a top Iranian artist of the 1950s, until first-time feature-doc director Mitra Farahani tracked down this sardonic, chain-smoking, assertively gay character in an Italian hotel. She got incredible footage of his final months, and the way Farahani frames his story of exile and rediscovery—with archival material and literary and musical quotes—is exceptionally clever. The final sequence makes for unforgettable cinema.

Cinematheque, October 4 (9:15 p.m.) and October 6 (4:45 p.m.)