Iran

With his debut Kami’s Party, Ali Ahmadzadeh offered a day in the life of a group of middle-class Iranians, largely from within the confines of a car. Now his latest film takes us on a character study odyssey through the night streets of Tehran as we go along for the ride with drug dealer Mr Amir (Amir Pousti, a non-professional, like all those involved, although you wouldn’t know it). His shaggy beard and hair recall the iconographic look of Christ and, in a way, he is ministering to the “sinners” and the lost souls of the city.Read More »

In Iran and Iraq’s postwar years, when Iraq bombs its Kurdistan, an old Iranian Kurd singer, accompanied by his musician sons, start searching for his ex-wife Hanareh. Hanareh, a women singer, has gone to Kurdistan in Iraq. The film is the story of the band’s journey, joined with their music. It is the story of a nation that has always been wandering. Being so used to war, they take it as a game and with their music they celebrate life.Read More »

Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran’s 1953 CIA-backed coup d’état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.Read More »

Effat tells Mahmoud her life story in order to convince him not to divorce his wife.

First steps toward realism.

I guess I watched “Reghabat dar Shahr” the censored version of this Ghaffari movie. So I already know that the happy ending is a hack and the purpose of this movie was a realistic portrayal of poverty and prostitution.

Kiarash AfroomandRead More »

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Set against the stunning landscape of rural Iran, Shirak is a symbolic rural drama centered on a young boy who lives in a small agricultural village that is being terrorized by wild boars. When his father is mauled to death by the boars during an attack on one of the village fields, Shirak suddenly finds himself the head of the household. Determined to hunt down the dangerous animals and kill them, he picks dates in order to be able to purchase a watchdog from one of the local villagers. Together, Shirak and his dog confront the beasts when they attack the village. While filming Shirak in 1988, his eleventh film, Mehrjui observed, ‘I can remark that this film is different from my other works. Read More »

Two brothers are involved in a dispute over a house in urban Tehran. It is only through a series of adventures with the tenants that they are able to settle their differences.Read More »

The School We Went To based on a story by Fereydoon Doostdar and Dariush Mehrjui and starring Ali Nassirian. Plot Summary: At the Justice on the Horizons School everything turns on bullying and threats from the school principal. The students are unhappy about this situation and they complain about it in the Wall newspaper. The principal is frightened about the opening of the eyes and ears of the students and he shuts down the Wall. The students protest and with the cooperation of the literature teacher they persuade the principal to agree to the remounting of the Wall newspaper. Some people have seen the film as an allegory for the 1978 Iranian revolution while others have criticized it as propaganda driven more by the Islamic regime than by Mehrjui.Read More »

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While on the surface Mr. Gullible contains all the hallmarks of a good comedy, at its heart this movie portrays with uncommon clarity the pitfalls of love and the pain of betrayal. When the protagonist leaves his small village and travels to Tehran to find a wife, he does so with all the gusto and naivete of one who has not experienced the world. Yet even when Mr. Gullible encounters some of the harsh realities of the big city, he is not dissuaded from accomplishing his mission to find a bride. When he finally meets what he believes is the perfect woman, Mr Gullible showers her with gifts and asks her to marry him. However, his romantic visions of life with his lady love are obliterated when he discovers her true identity. Festivals/Awards: Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival, 1971; Best film, best direction, best screenplay, best actress, best supporting actor at the Third National Film Festival Sepas, 1971.Read More »

This highly symbolic Iranian drama (shot in black-and-white) revolves around the most important figure in a remote rural village. That figure is the village’s sole cow, owned by Mashdi Hassan (Ezat Entezani). The beginning of the film makes clear just how vital the cow is to the life of the village and how much Mashdi and his neighbors cherish it. When the cow is threatened and then killed by members of a nearby clan, Mashdi becomes so distraught that he is gradually transformed into a cow himself. One highlight of this film is the glimpse it offers into a style of rural life which has gone unchanged for thousands of years.Read More »