Reza, the veteran worker of a print house whose sight is adversely affected because of his job, loses his mother. Finding the gloom reigning over the home beyond bearing, he departs to overcome his sorrows. He ends up at a hostel where he shares his room with a southern guy called Ahmad who has a group of orphan war-stricken children under his wing. After the initial inkling gives way to the friendship, Reza discovers that Ahmad’s patron plies his trade in black-market. At the same time, Reza’s sister is constantly beaten and humiliated by her husband for being infertile…Read More »
Persian
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Masud Kimiai – Dandan-e-mar AKA Snake Fang (1990)
1981-1990IranMasud KimiaiWar -
Mohamad Reza Aalami – Noghteh Zaf aka Weak Spot (1983)
1981-1990IranMohamad Reza AalamiThrillerBased on novel by Antonis Samarakis (1919–2003)
The masterpiece of the Greek writer Antonis Samarakis, To Lathos (The Flaw, 1965), was eerily prophetic of the military dictatorship that was shortly to be established in his native land. The novel, translated into English by Peter Mansfield and Richard Burns, in 1969, dealt with the fate of a suspect detained in an unspecified police state; a plan is devised to make him attempt to escape, thereby proving his guilt, or confess to his anti-state crimes under interrogation.Read More »
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Jafar Panahi – Khers nist AKA No Bears (2022)
2021-2030DramaIranJafar PanahiFollow two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power.
Quote:
They say girls come from the left side of the man.Read More » -
Rakhshan Banietemad – Zir-e poost-e shahr AKA Under the Skin of the City (2001)
2001-2010ArthouseDramaIranRakhshan BanietemadTuba works daily at a grueling textile factory in Iran, returning home every night to deal with the rest of her problematic family, which includes: a pregnant daughter whose husband beats her regularly; a teenage son, who’s been getting into trouble due to his burgeoning career in radical politics; and an older son who goes to great lengths–such as attempting to sell the family’s meager house–in order to get an engineering job in Japan as a means of getting out of Iran. Unfortunately the ‘friend’ to whom he gave his money as an advance for his trip took off with the money, and the son finds himself without money, without a career, and with a debt towards a lot of people. To solve his problems he wants to deliver a package of heroin, but loses it, and has to flee. The film ends dramatically with a direct call from the mother to the camera crew asking what life has given them after all the sacrifices they have done, mirroring the opening scene.Read More »
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Amirhossein Ashrafi & Mohammad Kart & Arastoosohrabinya – Shena-ye Parvaneh AKA Butterfly Stroke (2020)
Drama2011-2020Amirhossein AshrafiArastoosohrabinyaCrimeIranMohammad KartQuote:
A film of a woman swimming in a pool is distributed through the internet. Now her husband and her brother are after finding the one who is responsible for that and taking revenge on him.Read More » -
Jafar Panahi – Ayneh AKA The Mirror (1997)
1991-2000ArthouseDramaIranJafar PanahiA girl in traditional female clothing, and her arm in plaster, comes out of school one day and doesn’t find her mother meeting her. She decides to travel home her self though she doesn’t know her address and remembers the road only visuallyRead More »
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Mani Haghighi – Khook AKA Pig (2018)
2011-2020ComedyCrimeIranMani HaghighiHasan is seething with rage. A blacklisted director, it’s been years since he was allowed to shoot a film. The actress he has made a star and with whom he is in love now wants to make a film with another director. He and his wife have drifted apart and his daughter is also about to cut the cord. Moreover, his old mother who lives with them appears to be losing her mind. Worst of all, however, is that in Tehran and its environs, filmmakers are being murdered. But why is the serial killer ignoring him of all people? Hasan is crushed: isn’t he the best filmmaker in town? Why isn’t he being beheaded? His frustration is exacerbated when, as a result of a series of bizarre misunderstandings, he becomes the prime suspect. There’s a frenzy of running commentaries on social media and his popularity is plummeting by the minute. Hasan needs a diabolical plan to restore his reputation.Read More »
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Sohrab Shahid Saless – Tabiate bijan AKA Still Life (1974)
1971-1980DramaIranSohrab Shahid SalessPLOT
An aging rail worker, living a mononously quiet life with his wife, is asked to retire. The second of the two austere-looking, deliberately paced films Shaheed Saless made in Iran proved to be one of the turning points of Iranian cinema in the 70s.Winner of numerous prizes at the Berlin Film Festival in 1974, including the Silver Bear for Best Director, STILL LIFE examines the lot in life of an old man who guards a railroad crossing and his wife, who brings in a meager income weaving carpets. After 30 years in the same job, the man is forced into retirement by the arrival of the new guard. Finally, he is forced to a bleak epiphany of society’s indifference to his fate.Read More » -
Mohsen Makhmalbaf – The Gardener (2012) (HD)
2011-2020DocumentaryDramaIranMohsen MakhmalbafThe Gardener is a surreal film made using documentary-style techniques via the cameras of father and son (the Makhmalbafs) who go to Israel to learn about a religion (Baha’i faith) that they don’t know much due to its taboo status in the country of both the filmmaker and the faith’s birth – Iran.Read More »