Discoveries from Iran World Cinema

Undocument bears witness to four journeys of love and loss, immigration and identity across three continents as one cinematic journey.

According to the police, Negar's father committed suicide. Having had a happy life, Negar suspects that his death has not happened the way it seems. She starts unfolding the truth through an unconventional investigation.

A daughter pushes at the bounds of her relationship with her mother as she unpicks the psychological consequences of the violence she suffered.

Arash is an Iranian academic who lives in the West. He returns to Iran to teach in Shiraz, a city far from Tehran where his mother lives. Drawn into a series of domestic and financial dramas, he faces a country that is now alien to him. Following the death of his father and the discovery of what his “respectable family” has become, he is forced to make choices.

A teenage girl from Iran has fallen in love with a popular Korean K-pop singer. She wants to go to Seoul to see him perform, as well as take part in a competition. Although she has been accepted into the competition, her mother is seriously against her going.

Kamran and Moluk, middle-aged siblings, live penniless in the family's Tehran mansion, selling furniture to pay expenses. Their brother, who owns the house, has died suddenly, and his widow, Forugh, is coming from the provinces to visit. Kamran writes an elaborate script and hires a troupe of five actors to be the household servants. The purpose of the charade, which will seem real to Forugh, is to drive her mad, perhaps to suicide, so that Kamran and Moluk can inherit the house. The play is elaborate, Forugh is fooled and terrified, and the police can't substantiate her wild claims. She appears insane to them. All is headed for the mysterious last act.

The groom goes to the hairdresser to take the bride but he's been told that she has become a cockroach.

Behind each person is a story , behind each story is a person , so we have to be patient before any judgment

Mahi and Pouya are on a trip with friends. In the morning, they find with the dead bodies of their friends by carbon monoxide poisoning, and find out that they're the reason for their deaths.

Deportees is a 2007 Iranian film, written and directed by Masoud Dehnamaki, narrating a story during Iran--Iraq War.

Farhad has lost his eyesight due to an injury sustained in battle. As part of his recovery, he is transferred to a temporary hospital, where he encounters young nurse Sheida. Sheida is surprised by his tolerance to the pain of his injury, but soon realises that her recitation of Quran verses has a miraculous calming effect on him. And as the two start to grow closer and Farhad begins to heal, they find themselves on the path between faith and hope, and the true nature of both is revealed to them.

A political allegory on four middle-class guys who pile into their car for a ski weekend. A brief stop at a picturesque vista leads to their chance discovery of a prominent rock formation it seems would be oh so easy to tip over, but...

Ebrahim leaves his family and tries out his luck in Teheran. But in this urban jungle where everything's for sale and anything can be bought, dreams rapidly become nightmares. Caught up, in spite of himself, in a trafficking ring, will Ebrahim find an opportunity of escaping?

Rahmat travels to a host of islands in a vast salt pan in order to collect the inhabitant's tears for an unknown purpose. He is joined on his mysterious journey by a young boy searching for his father. As their travel nears its end, a potent critique of Iran's political leadership emerges.

A young girl leaves her hometown in south of Iran for a half day trip without permission of his strict father to attend a close friend's goodbye party. In her way back home hazy weather changes all she planned.

Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?

Me is written and directed by Soheil Beiraghi and produced by Saeed Sa’adi and Saeed Khani. The film is about Azar (Leila Hatami), a woman who acts as a middle-man for those seeking illicit goods. According to Beiraghi: “I didn’t want to portray an ordinary woman, but the one who is living a double life. She is a rebellious woman who rebels against the law and individuals.” Me was officially selected in the Certain Regard section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival.

The story of some neighbors with different life styles..

Famed actress Susan Taslimi plays three roles here: Kian, who doubts her identity; Vida, the twin sister, a self-assured artist; and their mother, who gives up one child out of fear of poverty, then deprives the other of affection because she deeply regrets the child whom she has abandoned.

Tara, a young beautiful widow, returns with her two children from the country to her village. On her way home, she finds out that her grandfather has passed away. She distributes his belongings among her neighbours. But there remains an old sword that no one will accept. One day on the road, she meets an ancient warrior. He claims that his clan have sent him to take the old sword back. Tara finally submits the sword to him, but he returns upon realizing that he has fallen powerfully in love with her.

Dash Akol is greatly respected in Shiraz as an honorable man who has lost his family's money through helping his friends. He has an enemy, however, named Kaka Rostam, a mean and spiteful person. Dash Akol, who is in his forties, falls in love with Marjan, daughter of the late Haji Samad, for whose estate he is the executor. But he keeps his love secret. One day a suitor asks for Marjan's hand, and Dash Akol considers it against his code of honor to refuse. On the night of the wedding, Dash Akol hands over responsibility for the family to the bridegroom. As he is leaving the house, however, Kaka Rostam is waiting for him and a fight ensues. Kaka Rostam stabs him in the back, but Dash Akol succeeds in killing him. On his deathbed, Dash Akol sends his parrot to Marjan with the confession of love he has taught it.

The little girl had just colored her nails and the world painted her face.

Elham is a young, divorced Iranian woman. Seeking to find herself after a near-fatal beating by her husband, she finds solace and salvation in the water and soon makes her mark as a formidable endurance swimmer. In the fight of her life, Elham faces political, religious, and personal obstacles in search of her goal: the Guinness World Record for swimming the longest distance with hands bound.

Rana has chosen a path in order to support her family, while Adineh (Eddie) has fled his home and city to escape his complicated situation as a transsexual man prevented from living as his true self by his family. They find themselves on the same journey and caused to know each other in a better way.

The film A Shadowless Man in the Social Genre, produced in 1397 and filmed in Iran and Spain. The director of this work, Alireza Reisian, went on to make a film without shadows after the films "Forty Years" and "The Age of Love". A Shadowless Man was screened at the 37th Fajr Festival. The story of this film deals with the emotional and marital relationship of contemporary man, who has a special look at social problems these days. The film's synopsis states that filmmaker Mahan Koushiar decides to make a documentary about a serial murder, but his life is affected.

After leaking of a video of her class in a women only swimming pool, Parvaneh is brutally murdered by her husband, Hashem, who seeks a way to redeem his reputation and dignity as the godfather in the neighborhood. Hashem’s brother, Hojat, embarks a journey into the labyrinths of underground in Tehran to find out who is responsible for this dirty game. Once wrongfully accused for smuggling drugs, he returns to the world of crime to trace his brother’s rivals…

The bandit band led by Luichi Pam Pek, who is the number two guerrillas of the group, captures a mine owner's safekeeper ...

Four friends run over something after a party in this psychological thriller set in Iran of the empty lives of the middle class when they get together in groups, emotional explosions start happening along moral fault lines.

After being unjustly expelled from university, a young couple return home to parents who are against their union. After the young man is arrested and subsequently breaks out of prison, the two decide to go on the run. As they plan and move forward with their escape, the police hunt them at every turn. With the two ignorant to the extent of the trouble they are in, will they ever manage to get their happy ending?

The Badger is the story of a 40-year-old woman called Soodeh Sharifzadegan who faces a strange incident, right before her second marriage.

Shirin leads a peaceful life in Iranian good middle-class, until the day her uncle Saeed asks her father to hire her in his travel agency. She finally decides to work. Her destiny changes, as she meets a young and attractive American, who goes to the agency to buy a plane ticket for Shiraz, the city of roses and poets.

Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.

A satirical comedy about a poor farmer who, while plowing his field, accidentally uncovers an ancient burial chamber loaded with gold artifacts. Realizing that the trove would somehow liberate him from his bumpkin existence, he brings pieces of it to a jeweler in the city.

Set on the southern coast of Iran, "Harmonica" begins as a young boy receives a musical present from abroad. Fascinated and envious, his friends make him the leader of the pack, as they compete for the privilege of holding the harmonica or even blowing a few notes, until the games and horseplay begin to take on a sinister edge.

This is about a father and his daughter who has been injured from the mines from Iran-Iraq war.

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakshan Banietemad ends her eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking with this ingenious, mosaic-like narrative, which knits together the stories of seven characters to create a microcosm of Iranian working-class society.

During the Second World War and the occupation of Iran by the Allied army, Dr. Rastan goes to Ih Qashqai to treat his sister's husband. There, he is introduced to Amir Houshang, the elders of the tribal elders, and Ghobad's rebels. He returns to Shiraz. His younger brother, Ali, has been thrown into the city, and ...

Zabih, a tough guy who committed a murder in support of his girl, Aghdas is released from prison after 15 years. When arrested, Aghdas was pregnant with his child. Now Zabih sets off for his hometown to find Aghdas and their son.

Story of a young lawyer in Tehran in search of a visa to leave the country, which is what Mohammad Rasoulof did during the winter of 2010/11.

Pegah talks about Gholam, a man who’s not like her father, mother, uncles, or aunts, even though he’s always present at family gatherings. Gholam films these everyday scenes with his own camera. At the time, Pegah can’t imagine what the purpose of these films might be, but she’s happy to pose before the lens of this family friend, who she’s certainly very fond of.

Saeed is a forty-year-old mason, severe and fanatical in his religious beliefs. One day his wife is accosted by a driver who assumes she is a prostitute. Seething with rage, Saeed seeks revenge. In so doing he gets into various bruising encounters, and each time comes out the worse. He then goes on to see women, and especially prostitutes, as the root of all evil and decides to rid society of sin by eliminating whores. The prostitutes he eliminates are, however, merely destitute women forced to sell their bodies in order to feed their children.

Ziba and three of her prison cohorts, recently released from a Tehran prison, settle in an out of town doctor's house posing as house sitters and embark on a get rich quick scheme. They plan to mug the lecherous men who give a ride to ladies waiting at street sides for a pickup, which was- and is, to some extent, now- how some prostitutes found work back in the time in Iran. The film portrays the characters as well as the social origins of these men, and as it progresses, explores the backgrounds of these women.

The Lie 12 is a story of love.

A man from a respectable and rich family is fascinated by a derelict woman. He intends to marry her, and despite his family’s disagreement, he does it. But the former lover of the girl remains intrusive, until she kills him to defend herself. She becomes imprisoned, but after being released from the prison, the family of her husband finally accept her.

A widow who works tirelessly at a failing factory in sanctions-gripped Iran receives a marriage proposal that could mean financial security — but could also tear her family apart.

The movie Kanapeh tells the story of the lives of two families who want to get together, but in the end, a couch causes problems in their lives.

One night, three bored young men in a car decide to pay a visit to an older man they only know vaguely. At first he’s glad to see them but soon afterwards thinks they’ve come to burgle him and turns a gun on them. When the police turns up, they’re all taken into custody.

Danesh works in a barbershop and dreams about becoming an actor. Manfered is an agent who would introduce Danesh to a famous director if he collects enough long hairs to be used as wigs. At the same time a series of murders have worried everyone. Who is the killer and is the barbershop in any way related?

Rouzbeh arrives in Prague, far from his troubled family life in Tehran, to research his father’s past. Visiting the flat where his father, a communist expatriate, lived 50 years ago, in the times of Czechoslovakia, he is stopped by a policewoman investigating a recent accident. The current resident of the flat, Vladimir, who turns out to be Rouzbeh’s half-brother, has fallen out the window. Discovering hidden corners of Vladimir’s life and getting closer to his soul, Rouzbeh learns a shocking truth about his father, totally contradicting the image of a hero he had about him. This puts him on the path which led to Vladimir's fall from the window.

The story follows Joseph's journey from being sold by his brothers to Egypt, his trials in Potiphar's house, imprisonment, rise to power interpreting dreams, reunion with his family after proving his brothers' remorse.

One of the close friends of "Enayatollah" entrusts his daughter "Meymanat" to him and sets out for the pilgrimage to the House of God. Meymanat falls in love with Enayat, but the man pretends to have a wife and child. After much effort and searching, the girl discovers the truth about Enayat's fake wife and child and reveals the man's secret. However, despite this, Enayat refuses to marry his friend's daughter...

A scientist has to face many hurdles to be able to continue his work.

Amir, a young Iranian, signs on with a fisherman on the rugged Caspian Sea coast in order to earn the money he needs to marry his sweetheart, Narges. But in so doing, he becomes entangled in the criminal machinations of caviar poaching. Piece by piece, a complex hierarchy is revealed in a parallel realm that becomes ever more constricting and oppressive, endangering Amir’s relationship with Narges as well.

Aghdas looks for a brave man who would avenge her brother's murderer. When she encounters Heydar, he marries her and promises to do so.

The adventure of a plane crash with passengers who have different secrets; the secrets that are not supposed to remain hidden forever...

Sarah and Ayda are two close friends, one of whom was notorious and now they must work together to bring their conditions to normal, but they stand to where for their friendship?

A tax collector is accused of taking bribes, and also has to deal with problems at home.

A young Donald Trump travels to with plans to open a casino in the north of the country. Hollywood stars Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty accompany him on the trip. Unaware of the unexpected events ahead, Khosrow teams up with his friend Parviz, the group’s translator, hoping to become Trump’s business partner in the casino venture — a partnership that will turn his life upside down.

Maryam Banoo, a depressed wealthy woman, finds out that her husband is having an affair with another woman. Her husband leaves the house after Maryam Banoo understands the truth. Maryam feels lonely and, by accident, she finds a poor worker and his pregnant wife who are homeless and need a warm place and some treatments for the wife. Maryam Banoo helps them by inviting them to her house and entertaining them with several kinds of food and drinks. The husband and wife invite some other members of their family to Banoo's house and they start to steal Banoo's expensive furniture and bothering her with their bad behavior. Finally Maryam's husband comes back from the trip and throws the poor people out. He admits that he is sorry about his affair but Maryam doesn't accept it and moves to an unknown place to live in peace. Her husband goes after her.

A gypsy girl named "Golnesa" is in love with a fun-loving young man named "Masoud," but the young man does not pay attention to her. During a competition, Golnesa wins a promotional prize from a company and travels to Paris. Upon her return, the changes she has undergone attract Masoud's attention...