Iran

A group of men from the city of Tehran traverse the rural Iranian countryside on a jeep, guided by a set of descriptive, yet unavoidably imprecise directions, seemingly lost. The driver (Behzad Dourani), respectfully called “Engineer” by the villagers, eventually encounters his appointed contact along the side of the road: a gentle, courteous boy named Farzad (Farzed Sohrabi), whom the Engineer proceeds to instruct with disseminating false information about their search for treasure in order to conceal the true and undisclosed nature of their visit to the Kurdish province. On an introductory tour through town, the Engineer shows interest in the declining health of Farzad’s grandmother, Malek, an invalid centenarian whose family has been keeping a vigil at the house as she approaches death.Read More »

This documentary follows the stories of five young girls who arrive at a refuge in Iran’s capital city Tehran, having run away from abusive or neglectful families.Read More »

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An old hermit lives in a slum and wants to teach the alphabet to the children regularly go there to play. What makes the hermit happiest however, is when he comes to the letter P (for “Pedarsag”, or “Puppy”). When a child proposes he use the word “Pelican” instead, the hermit goes to the nearby park looking for this animal he has never heard of.Read More »

Ava, an Iranian woman suffering from depression, blames recent political events in Iran for her troubled mental state and goes to a psychologist. The psychologist advises her to take on physical work, and later, to work on a play. However, the play, inspired by the reality and problems of her society, is banned. It is election time. The city is alive with possibilities. A new wave of hope has sent people massing into the streets to participate, to vote against the current president. Everywhere there is singing, dancing, action— a vibrant, passionate vision of a very different future for her country. But Ava still doesn’t believe change will come. She leaves her home and talks to people in the streets, trying desperately to rekindle her own hope.

The film is part documentary, part fiction.Read More »

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After a long time, some Iranian women singers are going to enter an unofficial competition in a coffee shop in Tehran. Pregnant Mahla along with the other members of Bandar Band, her husband and one of their closest friends, starts her journey to Tehran from a southern province just when they have lost all they had in the flood. They still keep their hopes alive, however every road they take leads to a dead-end in a flood-stricken land. They intend to go to Tehran, but they wonder if it is just another turn around a vicious circle. —Anonymous from IMDBRead More »

Plainly but nonetheless effectively handled, “The Twilight” relates a case of prison recidivism with the real-life subjects playing themselves. Chance to glimpse incarceration and ex-con life in Iran will hold attention for foreign viewers, though this very modest, earnest exercise in old-school social problem cinema ultimately proves that the related issues are pretty much the same the world over. Fest and educational play are signaled.Read More »

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Mina’s life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, so she starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter’s sakeRead More »

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In the bombed-out ruins of post-Taliban Kabul, Noqreh (Agheleh Rezaie) lives with her conservative father (Abdolgani Yousefrazi) and her sister-in-law, Leylomah (Marzieh Amiri), in temporary refuge buildings. Although her father insists that she go to the religious school, Noqreh sneaks into a secular school for girls. Her teacher encourages her to run for class president, and she finds support from a refugee poet (Razi Mahebi), who introduces her to the work of Garcia Lorca. Noqreh dreams about becoming president of Afghanistan, and she bases her political ideals on former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto.Read More »

On their way back from a wild party, Arineh and Nobahar cause a car accident. A mysterious stranger by the name of Toofan offers to cover the costs. This won’t be the last time they’ll cross his path over the course of the night. Cars form a popular setting in Iranian cinema. They move through the public sphere, yet their occupants remain among themselves. But what happens if a policeman suddenly gets into your vehicle, finds black market DVDs and forces you to admit, tipsily, that Argo is a film hostile to Iran? This road movie through Tehran by night begins as a hyperactive, drugged-up farce that pokes fun at the authorities, interprets the cultural history of Western toilets, and postulates other daring intercultural theories. Yet gradually the atmosphere changes and tension steadily rises in the car, thanks to Toofan, who keeps appearing again and again out of the blue. He plays a diabolical game with the two friends, one that crosses the boundaries into the metaphysical realm. As fanciful and spooky as the plot may seem, it is clearly anchored in Iran’s present.Read More »