PLOT
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 »
Persian
-
Sohrab Shahid Saless – Tabiate bijan AKA Still Life (1974)
1971-1980DramaIranSohrab Shahid Saless -
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 »
-
Bahman Farmanara – Sayehaye bolande bad AKA Tall Shadows of the Wind (1979)
1971-1980Bahman FarmanaraDramaHorrorIranBased on a short story by Houshang Golshiri, this film centers around mysterious and chilling events that take place in a village. A group of superstitious inhabitants have erected a scarecrow for protection but soon find themselves terrorized by it.Read More »
-
Bahram Beizai – Mosaferan AKA Travellers (1991)
1991-2000Bahram BeizaiDramaIranQuote:
A young woman’s wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters’ mother refuses to accept her daughter’s death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family’s traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service? The film is transcendental in its resolution.Read More » -
Ali Abbasi – Holy Spider (2022) (HD)
2021-2030Ali AbbasiCrimeDramaQuote:
Family man Saeed embarks on his own religious quest – to “cleanse” the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.Read More » -
Mohammad Rasoulof – Dast-Neveshte-haa Nemisoozand AKA Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013)
2011-2020DramaIranMohammad RasoulofPoliticsKhosrow and Morteza set out on a mission to kill someone. The assassination ought to be arranged as a suicide. At the last minute however, they are obliged to change their initial plans…Read More »
-
Bahram Beizai – Kalagh AKA The Raven (1977)
1971-1980ArthouseBahram BeizaiDramaIranWhen Mr. Esalat is looking for a topic for his TV show, he notices an advertisement in the newspaper about a missing girl. The picture of the missing girl is very familiar to him and he tries to remember where he saw it before. His wife Asieh is a teacher and at home she writes his mother’s diary. When he searches for the address in that advertisement, he finds that it belongs to 30 years ago. Asieh is becoming interested in the missing girl too.Read More »
-
Morteza Farshbaf – Soog AKA Mourning (2011)
2011-2020DramaIranMorteza FarshbafPLOT: A violent quarrel breaks out between a couple at midnight. Being at a relative,s house in the north of Iran, they depart for Tehran in the middle of the night, but they do not bring along their son. Something terrible happens on their way…Read More »
-
Nazgol Kashani – Khoda Biamorz AKA May She Rest in Peace (2021)
2021-2030DramaIranNazgol KashaniShort FilmA former bourgeoisie family’s preoccupation with socio-economic identity continues even into death as they decide what the best burial plot for their aunt is.
May She Rest in Peace centres around a former Bourgeoisie family in Iran whose current social status is in decline. The family’s preoccupation with socio-economic identity continues even into death as they are deciding what is the best burial plot for their aunt.Read More »