Discoveries from Iran World Cinema

The Khans attack the nomads, and after killing and plundering, they set fire to the tents.

A kite learns that sometimes, to live better, one must take risks.

A young girl becomes lonely and lost after losing her father.

The story of the life of a man named Amin.

Masoud has a stutter. His young uncle believes that, as the doctor said, the only solution to this problem is a lot of practice and repetition, while Masoud’s grandmother advises him to eat pigeon and turtle eggs...

Haji Baba makes a will that his daughter must get married before the inheritance is divided.

"A short avant-garde stop-motion about the repetitiveness of human daily life."

"Chai-Lashmaq" is the story of a woman's journey to the heart of all-male coffeehouses in Tabriz, Iran. she seeks an answer to the question of whether freedom of speech still exists in Iran's coffeehouses as it did before? During this journey, she visits various traditional coffeehouses such as the Pigeon Flyers' Coffeehouse, the Ashiks' Coffeehouse, the Antique Sellers' Coffeehouse, and the Workers' Coffeehouse. Meanwhile, as a woman in these places, she also faces some challenges!

A historical recount of the foundation, establishment, and expansion of 'Amirkabir Publication Institute'. This publication house was considered Iran's most influential and biggest publication institute in the 1940s-80s years. The film looks at the life of the late Abdorrahim Jafari, Amirkabir's founder, and the institute's sad ending, early 1980s when the revolutionary court orders the institute to be confiscated. Mr Jafari was then stripped of the institute's ownership and forced to retire. The documentary 'In Search of Illumination' is narrated by Abdorrahim Jafari and reviews different periods of his life and his activities in the Amirkabir Institute.

Like many children Kazem is dreaming of becoming a famous actor. When a production company is looking for a teen actor to play the main role in a film his chance to realize his dream appears imminent. They audition and screen test a lot of teenagers and at long last the director finally shortlists Kazem and Farhad. But then he can't make up his mind. One thing, however, is sure: only one of them will get the part. Kazem is ready to do whatever it takes but his family is far from pleased with his plans. And when his father has to go to the hospital, Kazem's dream of movie stardom seems seriously imperiled

A middle-aged woman suffering from obesity faces a crucial decision when her quest for life-changing gastric bypass surgery takes an unexpected turn. Just as she was about to receive insurance coverage, she suffered a debilitating stroke. She must now make a life-changing decision: follow a strict diet to prevent another stroke, or eat high-fat foods to reach the weight required by her insurance, further compromising her health.

Amir is a student who was humiliated by the school principal because of the situation he found himself in. This incident leads to his transformation…

Armita Abbasi was never a conformist. When Iran’s nationwide protests erupted in September 2022, after the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini, she joined thousands of other young Iranians in taking to the streets and calling for change. Armita paid a terrible price for her principles: but she doesn’t regret it and believes that the changes she seeks are coming to her country.

The story is about a fisherman who is searching for fish in a sea full of garbage and pollution, but cannot find any fish. Suddenly, he comes across a school of fish and follows them with his boat until he reaches an island made of garbage. Many fish are trapped among the garbage, and he easily hunts and collects them. But when he returns to his boat, he sees that a lot of garbage has accumulated around it, to the point where he cannot see the shoreline and becomes lost in the garbage island.

Nana Ali's dinner was left open. The sound of the red siren and the anti -ancestor's voice in the dark depth of the alley worried. Granny Ali's coming from the front to comment on the front, on the session of the Jaluyeh, at the meeting… Twenty years

A theater directed by Mojtaba Kazemi

A theater directed by Reza Bahrami

Mim's Family Disease is a symbolic story of a family from a society at the peak of disintegration, the more they try to get closer, the more they drift apart. In the end, the tragic death of a family member throws each one to a corner of the unknown world to escape self-inflicted loneliness.

Experimental short film

Mojtaba Zhian is an experimental and avant-garde Iranian filmmaker who makes films without a camera.He has made more than a thousand films so far, much more than Stan Brakhage.

Five years after Blackboard (2000) by Smira Makhmalbaf, in 2005, Whiteboard was released. It is directed by Fardin Batmani. This film tells the story of the negative impact of the Blackboards on the villagers in general and Said's social life in particular. It shows the realistic side of literate and cultural life in the region.

Avazali is a rich mean guy whose daughter Farideh is in love with Naser a young guy working for him. One day Avazali due to an accident lost his memory. His family send him to Shiraz but in the middle of way an accident happen. Avazali is rescued by the villagers and they take him to their village to take care of him there. Farideh brings a peasant Rajab Ali who is look like her father thinking that this is her father. Unlike her father this guy is very generous and good. In the village Avazali's memory is back but he has a vision seeing himself in hell. This changes him while he is coming back to his house.

A number of villagers want to go to the city hospital to visit the alderman but some events impede them to get there.

Mehdi, a 13-year-old boy is arrested by city officers and is taken to a poorhouse. His mother finds out and goes after him, but she faces obstacles because no ID has been issued for Mehdi and he does not exist on papers.

«On the Edge of the Galaxy» is a nine-minute passive virtual reality video installation in a 360 - degree micro-theater space that tells a romantic story in three scenes of devotion, courtship, and separation. A love that ultimately leads to the migration and distance of lovers, causing their separation. Four monitors are embedded around the audience, displaying images of Persian miniatures and inserts as well as images of an Iranian woman. In the space between the monitors are candles, wine glasses, a place for Persian poetry, and a stage where four female Iranian pop singers before the Islamic Revolution sing songs about love and separation.

A film about a young girl who gives birth to a baby by her abusive father and is debating what action to take next.

An abstract interpretation of the character of Beata in the play “Rosmersholm” written by Henrik Ibsen.

Berkeh, a political prisoner, is the son of Siyamak, one of the women killed by a serial killer. Mehrdad, a young homosexual with an Afghan father and an Iranian mother, was born in Iran but lacks documentation due to his father's identity. They decide to leave Iran. In the form of a filmmaking group with Sali and Siyamak, they head towards the border. The police become suspicious of Salim and Siyamak, targeting Salim with a gunshot.

The members of the Black Hawk group want to escape from the port of Karachi after stealing the death ray. Agent Jane Bond 008 is assigned by the British Intelligence Service to rescue the professor who succeeded in inventing the death ray while fighting against the members of the Black Hawk group.

This is the portrait of Ali Badri, an elderly Kurdish man who has learned to enjoy a humble and loving life despite his blindness.

Tehran, October 2022; a theater ensemble is rehearsing the ancient greek Lysistrata by Aristophanes. In the middle of a scene in which old men storm and attack the Acropolis, which the women of Athens have taken, the ensemble learns that they are surrounded because anti-riot forces are marching around the building and putting down a large demonstration. The street noise is deafening, and the room is filled with fear and anger. Some want to hide, others, led by the leading actress, want to go out into the streets and fight alongside the people. Despite disagreements, one thing is clear, the team does not want to continue the play in the time of the revolution.

Iranian claymation. In the middle of spring, a pair of majestic white herons enjoys the abundance and tranquility of spring. Until autumn arrives and circumstances lead the birds to a hidden swamp, where fresh food and warmth abound, but sometimes the price of comfort turns out to be freedom itself.

A short film about a lonely and depressed character that nothing around him can make him happy. He tries to commit suicide but survives each time due to his bouncy and elastic features. In his last attempt, he meets new friends, with whom he discovers new adventures.

A kind 80-year-old grandma named Mehri lives alone in a little town in Iran. Going through a lot of hardships in life, she has been awaiting in a little house on the foothill of the town for 35 years. Her sons haven’t visited her for 20 years.

After Macbeth murdered the king and took the throne to himself, Lady Macbeth disappeared. Now, after many years, she has returned to meet Macbeth. She regrets her past, and intends to guide Macbeth to stop the slaughter. She is completely unaware of Macbeth’s plan for her.

A country occupied by foreigners. And there is only one survivor left. The occupiers have changed everything: Streets, names, languages, flags, etc. The survivor has been fighting for thirty-seven years. Endless war, with undeniable reality...

A man who sells sounds finds himself in a situation that he must experience water, soil, wind, and fire to kiss a girl. He must hear all women he meets on his path – who are in fact one woman – and also the men who are all one man except he himself. he must reach a point that at the end of the journey, he erases all the sounds he has recorded to sell, leaves all he has, and be the messenger of the man he himself has turned into.

The shadow represents the 'blackness', that is, that which is isolated and can not be completely integrated with the human person. 'Carl Gustav Jung'

Homo Sapiens Project (200) was completed in 2020 as part of the 20th anniversary of Experimental Film Society. This eight-hour experimental feature is constituted from short film experiments made between 2000 to 2010. These films have already undergone many metamorphoses over the years. They were always restless wandering spirits seeking a permanent place of rest but so far without success. Each section of Homo Sapiens Project (200) was made under the unique condition of living out a form of subtle therapeutic practice. Collectively they reflect major life-changing events, formalistic mutations and thematic shifts within Rouzbeh Rashidi’s filmography. In spite of this, they could not find the peace of a satisfactory final shape. Indeed, they are about peace, something that rarely (if ever) exists within Rashidi’s work. But now, after twenty years of roaming the subconscious, they have come to rest in a permanent retirement in one world, one very personal floating planet.

CREATION BETWEEN TWO SURFACES A Film By Hossein Rajabian Statement I've tried my best to make a film about wisdom, rather than insanity. I firmly believe that we may not believe in wisdom and that's why we continue to live in madness. We have to admit that almost all of us are - one way or another - the inheritors of our predecessors' insanity. To get rid of madness, we have taken a big gamble - i.e. thinking - in our lives. Hossein Rajabian

Official film of the opening ceremony of Trans-Iranian Railway with the presence of the Shah and government officials at Fawzia train station in Lorestan, where the north and south railways meet.

It is about the Iran women's national hockey team and the problems and the difficulties in their way to go participate in the Asian matches.

An old lady who has a memory problem cyclically remember memories of a time when she tried to make a shawl for her father who went to war and never returned.

Lucky Luck returns to town after a long time.

This Iraninan documentary is a portrait of an ordinary man who is quite talkative, works as a house painter and is into cinema.

Zinat, who experimentally provided health services to the villagers of Salakh on Qeshm Island, discovered the burqa to get well and wore a health uniform, and was one of the first women on the island to work outside the home. Zinat is the only native of the island who ran for the ten-seat council in the first city and village elections (March 1998). A special day deals with the events and discussions related to Zinat's candidacy on election day as a woman.

Yasha, a bird hunter, finds the dead body of a well-known man on a snowy day in a mountain town. He becomes involved in a 300 billion Tooman embezzlement after getting clues leading to finding the killers. He begins to seek his benefit in this adventure.

A young boy tells the story of his failed suicide bombing attack as if it was a heroic episode. “If the bomb had exploded, no one would have survived.” “Did you hope so?” “Yes, I will go back someday and kill everyone while I commit suicide.” The most petrifying words flow casually from the boy’s mouth. The main characters in Children of the Night are five boy soldiers under the age of 15. These children, who are raised as “bombs of anger” by ISIS, are war criminals and at the same time victims. How are we supposed to live with these children? How can they live a life in the world? Behind the beautiful shots captured with elaborate close-ups, director Nouranipour tackles a burdensome question.

A young girl and boy meet in one of the northern coastal cities of Iran and soon fall in love with each other. Due to the opposition of those around them, they are separated. Later, the boy finds the girl in one of the southern cities, who has started a new life with another man. He, who is a broken man, goes to his death.

On an empty road, a man pulls over to give a ride to a hitchhiker holding a wheel but as the stranger approaches the car, the man gets too scared to let him in. Shortly after, while he's dining the hitchhiker gets off a truck recognizing the driver's car and comes in. The driver grabs a knife and ...

An hour before a funfair is opened, a worker falls to his death down the big wheel, and the other workers are forced to keep silent and continue the opening ceremony.

Omid is a young student whose time is split between sorting out his sister's bursary and his own project on nuclear research...

Shokat After her husband's death, tries to trap her young Nasser secretary.

Aida, 35-year-old Iranian girl, lives in Paris and back to Tehran after a few years to receive sperm from an Iranian boy based on their previous agreement and being pregnant. At the first ...

The story of a cat named Fidan, taken from a childhood at a custodial house, has a calm life. But by bringing a new kitten called Fica, her life's order breaks out, causing violence, ploy and jealousy against her kitten.