Discoveries from Iran World Cinema

Mohammad would not be taken to the cinema, because he didn't get his parent's permission.

Inspired by the legend of Gog and Magog and Sadegh Hedayat’s Afarinegan, the film reimagines an ancient apocalyptic myth through two girls, drifting between dream and prophecy.

"Image Latent" explores the life of Parviz Kimiavi, a key yet underappreciated figure in Iran’s avant-garde and New Wave cinema. The film offers a glimpse into his world, following his Parisian wanderings and capturing his evolving passion and love for filmmaking.

A young man manages his family with his day and night efforts, he meets the daughter of a wealthy family in an accident and marries her despite the strong opposition of the girl's family. Years later, the girl's family loses their wealth and finds a situation similar to that of their son-in-law's family, and at this time, their grandson is in charge of managing two families.

It tells the story of a social and enigmatic story chronicles the hardships of the 1960s and 1990s and points to a misconception that has overshadowed family life for decades.

A discussion with the famous Iranian director Nasser Taghvai about cinema and censorship.

A young artist painter is trying to draw a thin and dried tree, which is the last tree on seashore. At first she decided to water it. How this tree is thirsty beside the plenty of water? She gives this last tree a pail of water. She then decides to draw leafs on dried branches in her fantasy. Meanwhile, a woodcutter arrives and cuts away the dried tree. She continues her dream, and her tree turns to a real one. It seems she made her tree everlasting.

Sara (a 24-year-old girl) is supposed to babysit Matin (a 6-year-old boy) for the day, while his mother is at work. In the morning Matin tells Sara a story of a fight with his mother from the night before, this leads to a series of events through the day which will change Matin and Sara for the rest of their lives.

The story of a young girl Tina who believes in her aunt's forecasts which is affecting all her life. She is not getting married, waiting for her hidden half Sharmin to come.

Driven by the desire to understand her inner truth as a marginalised woman in Iran, Negin Ahmadi embarks on a self-exploring precarious adventure to meet the Kurdish women fighters in the war zone of North Syria.

Story of a borther and a sister who lose each otehr after an earthquake.

On the FM wave, there are 48 things happening.

The story of a man who feels that he has not become anything in his life which is affecting all his life.

Herbert (Heinz Lieven) is a solid, middle-class engineer who one day quits his job and ensconces himself at home (preferably in the bathroom), refusing to say very much to anyone. His wife (Dorothea Moritz ) is all the more upset at his behavior because on Sunday mornings he goes out into the street and yells at the top of his lungs for everyone to "get up." Eventually, the hard-working wife who is also earning their support convinces Herbert to go to a clinic for treatment. But is it a clinic he needs? Or is Herbert rebelling against a society that is too ordered, too sterile, too buried in the monotony of routine?

An old watchmaker in Iraqi Kurdistan, wakes up one morning to find that his village has been taken over by the terrorist group ISIS.

An expedition goes missing in the snowy mountains, a man is found dead. As the investigation proceeds, a 15-year-old case, in which a sister of the dead man's friend was burnt to death, surfaces. Another body is found, and the mystery deepens.

The son of a taxi driver goes to Europe to pursue his studies but goes wasted. One of his friends takes him to a group of drug smugglers which is managed by a woman having influence over others. The son is arrested in a mission smuggling drugs in Iran but the leader orders to release him. Instead of him, they arrest an addicted in Jamshid street and sentence him to death. The son is influenced by this event and begins to fight against the smugglers and he is injured severely. A sweeper finds him in the street and calls an ambulance. The taxi driver comes to the location and takes his son to the hospital.

Hoda, an Iranian refugee in Germany, lives with her boyfriend, Hadi. An unexpected pregnancy leads her to examine common beliefs regarding gender roles in a relationship and challenges the current social norms surrounding feminine bodies and motherhood.

Elham is about to marry a young rich guy. But the guy's mother tells her that she doesn't like her nose and before the marriage she should make a plastic surgery and fix it. Elham does the ...

The story is about a 26-year-old girl who lives alone in the house inherited from her parents...

Synopsis: Susan Feri, whose brother Jamshid provides information to the people, along with his assistant, is fortune-telling and selling magic pills to solve people's problems. They used different tricks to enter people's houses and beat their gold with black games...

A captive warrior, Issa, who has long been thinking about various plans to escape from the camp, takes advantage of a golden opportunity and runs away from the camp immediately. A number of Ba'athist troops pursue him, but he continues steadfastly and boldly to flee while they are firing their bullets. But eventually, he manages to return to his homeland by plunging into the border river ...

Mehrad is a 20-year-old queer guy from the upper-middle-class Tehran. Despite the social practices of his class, he decides to deal cocaine in his underground party community and today, he’s going to buy drugs for the first time.

The story of a child who, instead of going to school, mischievously and curiously finds another way to go to class...

A theater actor who is taking a part as Macbeth finds himself lost in the role.

The Night-prowler, a mute man, rescues Showkat, a cabaret singer, from a group of men and takes her to his humble home…

A teenage girl seeking a divorce tries to have her husband's name legally removed from her birth certificate. But her traditional mother objects to interns attending her daughter's virginity examination.

The Invisible Trap, directed by Fariborz Saleh, is a lesser-known film that was produced in the final year of the second Pahlavi government at the behest of the SAVAK.

A play reading directed by Aida Keykhaiee

A distinctive documentary that takes a look at the life of Shahbanoo Farah Pahlavi from childhood to the present day. Produced using dozens of rare and lesser-seen films and photographs and narrated by the Empress herself—it not only introduces viewers to her personality, traits, and life memories, but also offers a view of the social, cultural, and political transformations of contemporary Iranian history over more than the past 70 years.

A few minutes after midnight, the young lady realizes that her partner disappeared after their sex. She goes out worried to seek her partner in the darkness of streets.

A young girl escapes from her home and comes to Tehran to find her fiance but she has to face many unexpected difficulties and different challenges after meeting him.

Omid, Mohsen and Safa are the sons of Sarahi who grew up in a neighborhood called Ajri and with the support of Mr. Atabki. Omid falls in love with Mahor, the girl who taught him French...

Everyone respects Kaka Mostafa, the standard-bearer and the trusted elder of the neighborhood. He intends to appoint Karim, his disciple, as the new standard-bearer. The Bibi-Hassan brothers kill Rahman’s brother, and seven of them are imprisoned. The Bibi-Hassan brothers entrust their sister, Suri, to Kaka Mostafa. Rahman returns to his hometown, Shiraz, and violates Soori—who is living in Kaka Mostafa’s house—and the girl then takes refuge in a brothel...

A boy and a girl who have become virtual friends during the Covid era are going on their first date after three months.

Despite of many disagreements between Yalda and her husband, she tries to maintain their relationship because of her fears. But their differences are increasing and they aren't compatible anymore and this causes their divorce. Because of family pressures and society judgments, Yalda keeps herself aloof from her relatives and hides her divorce. Home is no longer safe and her family don't appreciate the pressure she is under. She extends her relationship with Hamed one of her classmates. As usual, marriage is her relationship purpose. But Hamed has another idea. Their interactions change both of them. Now Yalda is another person with another personality.

Sahar and Kian are in love and want to get marry but Sahar's parents are disagreeing with that so they decide to run away together to the north of Iran. But in the way in the bus they face new troubles.

A girl who is a milk delivery agent meets a young man and soon becomes infatuated with him.

Adel, who has been released from prison after four years, travels to Yazd to visit his friend Davood, but finds him to be an alcoholic. Leila, a dancer whom Davood is fond of, tells Adel that in his absence, a wicked man named Teymour has arrived and gradually taken control of Davood’s caravanserai. Teymour is also trying to take possession of Davood’s sister...

After twenty-five years in prison, Sarallah tries to avoid evil and theft, but in practice he cannot and steals again. One night, while fleeing (from the police pursuit), he enters the house of a cleric. The cleric's words captivate him and he leads an honorable life. Meeting a woman named Badri makes him determined to start a family and get married, but at this time, Badri's ex-wife arrives. Having a long-standing grudge against Badri, she accuses Badri of a serious crime and sends him to prison. Nasrallah is responsible for raising Badri's daughter, Maryam. Twenty years later, Badri sees his daughter Maryam again. At this time, Nasrallah is a staunch and honorable old man.

Two young men struggle with problems typical for 30-year-olds in contemporary Iran: unemployment, oppression, lack of self confidence and loneliness. Both have dogs who look similar to each other.

Homayoun Beyk's wife takes one of her twin children, Shabnam and Sholeh, away from her father in retaliation, and takes care of him herself. Shabnam grows up with her father and flame with her mother. As a young man, Shabnam was in charge of his father's finances, and once they went to Isfahan with Behrouz's lawyers, Shabnam was forced to return to Tehran for 24 hours due to his father's deteriorating condition, while he succeeded. Behrooz will not be notified. Here, Behrouz accidentally encounters the flame of Shabnam's twin sister, who is a singer, and thinks that he is Shabnam, unexpected events occur, and fate decides what happens to them ....

Asho knows not only how to deal with goats, he also knows about films. He tries to see at least one a day. His favourite director is Tim Burton. Always on the road (Asho means "eagle"), the Iranian shepherd's son dreams of being an actor. By his side: his cousin and future wife Pari. Pari thinks that if Asho becomes a star, then so should she. But they both have been for a long time: This is their behind-the-scenes.

Salim Shaheen has a bad day.

A lonely old man takes to terrorizing the kids who build a football pitch next to his house.

"On the Path of Rain" tells the story of the hard days of a man named "Ryan" whose drought has cut his strength and made life difficult for him and his family.

After leaving a party, three friends are making their way home while chatting and having fun. Suddenly, things start to get unpleasant.

Heydar is working in Tehran but is learning English so that he can return to his home country, Afghanistan, as a translator.

In Iran-Iraq's war, a young scout joins the front-line to help his comrades single-handed.

In a society where all social customs are based on the beauty of a woman, her challenge is to find self confidence and inner beauty despite having lost her physical beauty.

Examines the strained dynamic between the three wives of the polygamous Mohammadi family, as cash-strapped Heda seeks to add a fourth wife.

The story goes through a busy single house where five young people are forced to live in difficult conditions. One of them is addicted and is leaving addiction. One is dumb. One has to study for university exams, which is not a conditional one. One lost his father's house and was stripped of a contract with a contractor. Now he has been housed with a broken leg, and the other, the Prophet, who is actually the main owner of the house, is a full-fledged exile who emigrated to Tehran to work. The sudden arrival of Rassoul's wife to Tehran drains the house from normal ...

The billionaire, Ardeshir Meshkin, looks for his lost grandson to grant him a fortune as heritage.

A voice from the entrance of the house kept ringing in my ears... What a bloody wedding... The bridal veil was drowning in the house... It definitely wasn't a man's voice... But it wasn't a woman's voice either... Maybe it was my own voice... Where had I first heard this voice or even the poem... Who had sung it to me?

A nerdy school kid is looking for a job in the newspapers.

I Look Like My Mother follows Amina Maher’s courageous journey to free herself from the constraints of norms, taboos and traditions. Her coming-out as a trans woman is her rebellious stand against rape culture and patriarchy, and her strong support for a future beyond cis-normativity. Ten by Kiarostami recorded ten-year-old Amina sitting in the passenger seat of her mother’s car without her consent. Now, she has taken the wheel, driving her actress mother, Mania Akbari, through Berlin – in a new body and with a new name, Amina. On her journey, Amina navigates through highs and lows with humour and energy, looking to transform the overshadowing past in playful dream sequences and in honest discussions with her queer community. With sheer endless creative energy, she transforms her present and past experiences into beautiful elegies of a struggle for her own truth – in her own terms. There is nothing to stop Amina from putting her foot down on the accelerator now.

Based on a true story, the film follows the life of a woman from the nomadic tribes of Firouzabad who loses her family in a devastating forest fire.

A dreamy and enigmatic film about facing your own shadow and stare back at it through the viewfinder of a camera. A hybrid fiction-documentary film about a traveller from Iran whose shadow wants to make itself independent upon arrival in Germany. Facing it and gazing at the shadow with the help of his video camera, memories and flashbacks cut rhythmically into the traveller’s records of the present until a remix of his past and future occurs. All this in an in-between space, in a non-place, ‘In Transit’.