The idealistic bubble of Iranian filmmaking has burst.

A crop of movies that comprises the 14th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema at the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s festival flaunts the unique ability of seven Iranian filmmakers. While some of the films, most of them making their Los Angeles premiere, stay true to the Iranian cinematic tradition of neo-realism, other filmmakers embraced the aspirations of modernism.

“One thing I have definitely noticed is that the filmmakers are more explicitly engaged in social problems,” said head programmer David Pendleton. “Instead of using allegories to subtly get their points across, they are addressing the problems more head-on.”

Picked largely for their artistic quality, the films span myriad issues ranging from urban alienation to unsatisfied love. The films chosen stand apart from other Iranian films for their abilities to remain artistically compelling while also carrying a message.

Though some of the films touch on political controversies, such as the issue of the dispossessed Kurdish population in “Black Tape,” most deal with ordinary social problems. The filmmakers simply wanted to show the imperturbable rhythms of everyday life minus civil or political strife.

“Most outsiders have this misconception that life in Iran is grim,” Pendleton said. “But Iranians, more or less, live life much like us, and we wanted to show those aspects.”

Coming from an historical tradition of governmental and religiously sponsored censorship, the festival’s programmers were surprised by the amount of progressive films they saw. What once used to be a market heavily controlled by government subsidies, and therefore more vulnerable to restrictions, is changing.

Due largely to advances in digital media, filmmakers are finding it easier to circumvent criticizing governmental eyes. In some cases, the result of this liberation has made for more sensationalistic filmmaking.

While some films received praise in Iran, such as “Dancing in the Dust,” a melodrama about a disgruntled married couple, others, such as “Crimson Gold,” have been banned from release in Iranian theaters.

In the film “Black Tape – A Tehran Diary,” first-time director Fariborz Kamkari adopted a hand-held camera effect much in the same fashion that “The Blair Witch Project” was shot. The widespread use of non-traditional equipment and the Internet has made it harder for the government to control the kind of movies that are made, allowing filmmakers to become more experimental and daring in their content and style. The film’s realistic depiction of violence and sexuality pushes the limit of what is usually typical in Iranian cinema.

“There would have been no way (“Black Tape”) could have been released if it went through Iranian governmental channels,” Pendleton said. “The sex would have definitely been toned down or deleted all together.”

But getting a film like “Black Tape” into the United States is no easy task either.

Due to economic embargoes between Iran and the United States, the festival’s organizers were not able to obtain prints directly from the country and therefore had to turn to “middle-men” countries, making it easier to attain films that were boycotted in Iran. Many films traveled through informal circuits or festivals in other countries and were then picked up by U.S. companies.

Though Iranian cinema currently stands at a crossroads between tradition and modernity, the festival hopes this uncertainty and struggle is shown through the chosen films, and in a way the audience can experience Iranian life as Iranians live and see it.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive’s 14th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the James Bridges Theater with a screening of “Crimson Gold.” The festival will continue into early February. Tickets and more information are available at www.cinema.ucla.edu or at the James Bridges Theater box office.