Iran

  • Majid Majidi – Avaze gonjeshk-ha AKA The Song of Sparrows (2008)

    2001-2010DramaIranMajid Majidi

    When an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter’s hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him – incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence, thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis. Written by David StevensRead More »

  • Ali Mosaffa – Naboodan AKA Absence (2021)

    2021-2030Ali MosaffaDramaIranMystery

    Quote:
    Rouzbeh arrives in Prague, away from his troubled family life in Tehran, and drowns himself instead in a research about his father’s past as a communist expatriate in the former Czechoslovakia. Upon visiting the flat where his father used to live 50 years ago, he’s stopped by the police investigating a recent accident. The resident of the flat (Vladimir) has fallen from the window and his father’s name is identical to Rouzbeh’s. This can be no accident and he must accept that Vladimir is his own half brother. As he gets closer to the soul of Vladimir and discovers the hidden corners of his life, he learns a shocking fact about his father’s past, in total contrast to the hero he always admired. This directs him to a course of events identical to the one which brought Vladimir to his fall from the window.Read More »

  • Kambuzia Partovi – Golnar (1989)

    1981-1990AdventureComedyIranKambuzia Partovi

    imdb:
    A children’s film with music and puppet animals that participate in the lives of villagers in rural Iran. The film centres on the idyllic life of Golnar, a young girl who lives with her grandparents, and their daily routines and lifestyle. One day, Golnar becomes lost in an ominous forest when she loses her missing mother’s hankerchief, her pride and joy. Like Goldilocks, she finds shelter in a hut that accommodates a pair of bears. The adventure begins when the bears notice the young intruder. A charming tale for all ages.Read More »

  • Ali Zhekan – Madian AKA The Mare (1986)

    1981-1990Ali ZhekanDramaIran

    Noted Iranian actress Susan Taslimi plays an impoverished single mother who agees to marry off her 13-year-old daughter to a middle-aged man in return for a mare, which will help her earn an income and provide for her younger children. Director Ali Zhekan paints a stark picture of poverty and patriarchy in rural Iran (the mother stores her rice in a container hidden in a tree; her brother, who brokered the wedding, mercilessly beats the recalcitrant child), but this 1986 film is distinguished mostly by Taslimi’s increasingly fiery performance as the mother decides to defend her daughter’s freedom.Read More »

  • Hamid Nematollah – Bi pooli AKA Penniless (2009)

    2001-2010ComedyDramaHamid NematollahIran

    imdb wrote:
    A haughty acclaimed newly married fashion designer named Iraj is shown the door by his boss after the boss’s son arrives at Iran to take over his father’s company. Iraj reluctant to promulgate the loss of his job, starts using his savings, trying to conceal the truth from his naive wife. Having squandered all the money he had on trivial matters, he tells his wife about being axed & that’s when the tables turn on him.Read More »

  • Parviz Sayyad – Bon Bast AKA Dead End (1977)

    1971-1980DramaIranMysteryParviz Sayyad

    Quote:
    A young woman is living with her mother at the end of a dead-end street. The young woman notices that a man standing in the street stares into her room every day. After a while, she gets used to his presence and falls in love with him.Read More »

  • Abolfazl Jalili – Daan (1998)

    1991-2000Abolfazl JaliliArthouseDramaIran

    Daan is the story of a young boy desperate to find work to help support his family and heroin addicted parents. Moving from employer to employer, Daan, aged only 9 and illiterate, faces an almost impossible task without an identity card. Part of the Iranian New Wave, Abolfazl Jalili’s use of non-actors gives the film the feeling of a documentary, as performers recreate lives so close to their own. From Don’s point of view, the world is a tough place, but his determination to make the most of his situation is heartwarming.Read More »

  • Abolfazl Jalili – Hafez (2007)

    2001-2010Abolfazl JaliliDramaIranPhilosophy

    The story of a man who has memorized the Holy Quran. In this movie, life of the famous poet from Shiraz (Hafez Shirazi) is presented symbolically.Read More »

  • Ali Mosaffa – Pele akher AKA The Last Step (2012)

    2011-2020Ali MosaffaDramaIran

    Quote:
    The film opens with an actress, Leili (Leila Hatami), in the middle of filming a scene for her latest film. We quickly learn she has only recently lost her husband, Koshrow (Ali Mosaffa) under strange circumstances, and the film she’s making is eerily about a woman mourning the loss of her recently deceased husband. However, Leili cannot get around saying a certain line about forgetting the face of her husband. She keeps laughing when she should be crying. Chalking it up to the fact that she’s returned to work too soon, the film set grumbles as Koshrow’s omniscient narration informs us that he’s recently died and there’s a strange turn of events that have led us here…Read More »

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