Discoveries from Iran World Cinema

Salim Shaheen film from Afghanistan

Two convicts - a veteran smuggler and a vengeful surburbanite - escape from prison while chained by the wrists.

Documentarian Mehrdad Oskouei's debut short, shot on Super 8mm.

A grief-stricken, reclusive, woman and a young newcomer, become intertwined by the pain of the woman’s past and the trauma that lingers.

Short documentary by Ebrahim Mokhtari

We had a comfortable life until my father went bankrupt and I blamed him for our misfortune. Being 30 and still living with my parents, I do not speak with my father. It is my brother's wedding and I'm not attending his ceremony. I asked my friend to film the wedding and specially my father. This film is an occasion for me to revise my attitude toward every member of my family by talking to them.

The fates of a madman, a homeless woman, a print shop worker and a playboy are intertwined in the days leading up to Persian New Year. Toofan, an uncategorisable film which moves freely between horror and comedy; documentary, musical and sci-fi, was the first production of Khachikian’s own studio, Azhir Film. After the censor banned Khachikian from making a film about the first serial killer of the modern era in Iran, he turned to one of his own stories, exploring his preferred themes of compassion and evil. Shot both in the studio and on location, it features a memorable sequence of Bonfire Wednesday and a ruin which was rumoured to be a former Qajar era torture dungeon.

“To Revolution Square” is the name of a documentary short film directed by Hossein Rajabian, the Iranian filmmaker. It portrays the commute of the common people in the Iranian capital city of Tehran who have to take the bus to go " to Revolution Square " on a daily basis. During the movie, people come to listen to strange radio news while they are on the bus. However, they are extremely dispassionate and do not show any special reaction to the unbelievable reports.

16 women, 16 stories, 16 fates in Teheran. Women between 20 and 80. 16 women finding their self conception. Snapshots. What are their thoughts, feelings, actions? What is it they expect from their lives? This film by Bahar Ebrahim is an appraisal of 16 women in every day situations, their ideas, visions and perceptions. 16 Iranian women and their views on the past, loneliness, men, fashion, love, freedom and self determination. Two of them remain silent, convincing the others to immerse in music and dance. Art in shape of a warming coat for the soul. "Life is a prison, my eyes an ocean of tears. Oh Life, sweet life, I have had enough of you, let me go."

Autumn Leaves" is about little girl who is going to school and something happens.

After the sanctions imposed by the US and Europe against Iran, Iranian families face numerous economic problems. MAAT is a doc-fiction about families from different towns decided to immigrate to the capital to solve their financial problems. They spend all their saving on buying a house in that utopia. After entering the house, they found out the flat has been sold to a few buyers. They are finding a way out for their problem when they find a large sum of money (US dollars, Credit cards and ...) in the flat. Now they face the ethical dilemma of taking the money or telling the truth to the police or solving the problem between themselves somehow.

The atmosphere is dreamlike, the characters have no name, neither the streets. Teheran is the only character whose name is constantly evoked. A lawyer, as many others, works and lives alone in his apartment, which is both his office and his home. In a cold and rainy day, a man burst into his apartment, speaks to him shortly and confusingly and gives him a package that will completely change his life. Venice 2016 - Semaine de la Critique selection.

Using an invasive cinéma verité camera, the extraordinary acts of faith of dervishes under trance conditions in Iranian Kurdistan are documented.

A documentary on the difficult lives of children of a village in the southern part of Iran, who work in a traditional kiln

During a drive to a shoot, Babak persuades his assistant Amir to share the details from a script.

In a remote village in northern Iran, the intense bullfighting culture captivates the community as they rally behind Barre, a fierce competitor. Amid the adrenaline and cheers, questions of ownership and identity arise. This gripping narrative reveals a complex portrait of a society grappling with traditional values and modern vices, showcasing a side of Iran that defies expectations.

A top student in a nomad's winter place, Aslan misses his chance to attend final exams due to the problems his father's dealing with. Now he has to study while leading the herds as a shepherd. But in the first place, he is obliged to teach something of life to an elder shepherd who has fallen for his big sister; to teach him to be a worthy man to love his sister.

The future: humanity has become lonely and lives isolated in a strange world. In this hypnotic film, we follow a man dressed in an aluminium suit. At night he roams through an unrecognisable Teheran to exterminate cockroaches. Lynch-like science-fiction from Iran.

A village in Iran banned any type of hotels and hostels, as people believe this can affect their culture of hospitality. While people of this village offer tourists to stay in their homes, some youth generation believes this should change and they need to earn more money from tourists.

It seems two real worlds and in between is a dream. The dream is a transition from one world to another, entry into another world. A flowing real world reflects on each other.

"Puzzleys" is the name of a four-member group of IT students who, in spite of suitable job opportunities and the opposition expressed by their families, want to start up their own business. Other than their education and determination, all they have is an idea. They need backing, experience, and business knowledge, so they leave their small town to go to the capital city of Tehran to realize their dreams. They take time off from university and cram into the baggage compartment of a bus for a 15-hour trip to Tehran where the real challenges begin.

The inhabitants of “Lahib” seek refuge from the cold in the fires of hell..

I don't remember the night before i was eaten by a wolf.

A tale of memories floating through the memory of places.

Haj Hemmat and his nephew Saleh, along with a group of workers, are assigned to help extinguish the burning oil wells in Kuwait and travel there to carry out the mission.

A man, burdened by his debts to a friend, decides to marry off his daughter to his friend's son in order to free himself from the heavy financial obligation.

Short film part of a Samsung campaign in Iran.

This video is a part of a social responsibility campaign aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer prevention.

Shahriyar, a garbage collector, has a passion for literature and poetry. He writes imaginative stories to escape from his dull, prosaic life in Kermanshah, a city in Iran’s Kurdistan region. But his wife, his family, his neighborhood and all the people around him constantly conspire to hold him back from “Moving Up”.

A rural schoolteacher boards a night train—the same one that passes by their school every morning. He has made up his mind to speak with the passengers, to ask them for a simple favor: to respond to his students, who stand by the tracks every morning, eagerly waving at the train. The children’s excitement is met with silence day after day, and the teacher hopes that, just for a moment, someone might wave back—and acknowledge their innocent longing with a simple gesture.

A film by Faramarz Moattar

The situation for renters has become critical due to stagnant income and rising rents. The film reports on the consequences of strictly enforcing landlord-tenant laws during a crisis.

The film is about importance of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Provinces in Iran, which begins with a description of the political and historical developments of this land in the Elamite era.

Satan is jealous of Ayub , because of his dignity God decides to put Ayub in a test with problems and troubles. Satan can't believe Ayub's faith. The movie shows Ayub's tolerance against problems.

One night in a supermarket, an Afghan male salesman named Elias encounters a friend or acquaintance named Mohsen. Mohsen has a strange request from him. He brings a drunk woman with him from a party somewhere and asks Elias to take her behind the store, but Elias refuses to respond to this request.

In the last decade, keeping special pets such as snakes, tarantulas, alligators, monkeys, and even scorpions has become very common in Iranian houses. Unlike domestic pets such as dogs, these animals do not need to go outside the house and they are kept in the closed apartment spaces. Due to the increasing demand for buying various pets, a large underground network has been created to buy and sell animals, and keeping pets has become a strong culture and economy in Iran.

An Iranian man uses the guiding principles of two ancient crafts to overcome the wounds of a broken family and discover the secret to achieving perfection.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the revolution, Susan Bayani makes a short documentary about “Search One” by Amir Naderi and the challenges he had to go through to make his first ever documentary in 1980.

An intimate documentary on Iranian songwriter and poet Yaghma Golrouee. Alternating performance footage, poetic digressions and interviews with the poet, the film explores Iranian music and songwriting through the years, chiefly socio-political songs before and after the revolution. In 'I Am Just a Poet, Officer', Golrouee highlights the importance of poetry in politically engaged music, largelly stemming from the work of seminal Persian poets such as Abu Abdollah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki. Golrouee also discusses and criticizes the content and imagery of Iranian pop music.

A fellow corvid is absolutely enchanted with the thought of magic.

This intriguing short portrays the lifestyle of a Spanish woman living in Washington D.C. as she protests the American occupation of Iraq. Residing in a tent directly outside of the White House, Conception Picciotto is a constant presence amongst the tourists and visitors to this landmark. Yet this is much more than a documentary about an eccentric and determined woman. As Picciotto tries to turn the 4th of July celebrations into a protest against U.S. imperialism, the film brilliantly illustrates the gap between the ideal of freedom of speech and its reality.

A fascinating insight into the Iranian pop music industry, Nasser Saffarian examines the history of the 'anti-love song,' a form that rejects the idea of the conventional love song in favor of darker subject matter, such as bitterness, betrayal and regret. Featuring interviews with established musicians and poets such as Shahkar Binesh Pajouh, Pari Zanganeh, and Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, the film details the genre’s emergence in the early 2000s. However, we learn that anti-love song themes have existed as far back as the 1960s. An absorbing, fantastically researched film.

Sistan and Baluchestan Province is located in the southeast of Iran in an arid desert climate. Due to the drought, most of the villagers were forced to immigrate to other towns. This documentary shows two lifestyles in the desert region. One group gives in to the conditions and emigrates, and on the other hand, someone who in the same conditions, builds a Baluchi Garden and an artificial lake with floodwater.

"The Sky is the Same Color Everywhere" is the story of a woman who, at the crossroads of motherhood and womanhood, between duty and desire, decides to fly from her golden cage in search of a different sky.

While military campaigns target infrastructure, Archive of Collateral Lives exposes the invisible fallout, the families forced to move, the daily rhythms disrupted, the lives unaccounted for in official narratives. Through fragments of VHS footage and personal memory, the film becomes a counter-archive: one that preserves what war tries to erase.

The movie is about a young Persian boy who befriends an Assyrian priest and learns tolerance toward Christians in post-revolution Iran.

Focuses on an Irani filmmaker who is not allowed to visit his mothers grave.

Four cousins intend to marry each other, but their uncle confesses that due to a grudge against his strict brother, he swapped one of the girls with his brother's son. In reality, the bride and groom are siblings. Thus, the bride and groom are swapped so that this marriage can proceed.

The story portrays the confusion and daily routines of three teenage girls on the verge of puberty, named Yasi, Maneli , and Shouka.

This Iranian filmed theater is about Reza, a mischievous boy who has little connection with his family and friends. One night, he dreams of his family and teachers, while his younger sister places a pink hat on his head. The next morning, he is transformed.

Roham, a man whose life is built on precision and control, sees his carefully structured world fall apart after an unexpected accident. Struggling with a deep inner crisis, he makes a defining decision that draws him into an unfamiliar presence and an unknown world. As he navigates this new reality, Roham embarks on a journey of self-discovery that challenges everything he thought he knew about control, freedom, and identity.

A documentary about Abolhasan Saba, who was an Iranian musician, composer.

Some small furry creatures wander away from their mother and get lost in the woods.

Ebram Agha who is the valiant of the neighborhood is at death bed of Pahlevan Akbar. His will is to Ebram take care of his family. They move to live with Ebram's family. With the insisting of Ebram's mother he decides to marry the young girl of them but in his wedding night an accident sends him to jail. When released he finds an ugly truth.

In the mid-1980s, a young girl in war-engaged Kurdistan tries to learn music solely by ear. Her family suppresses her grits. Despite these struggles, as the air raid siren blares, she chooses not to follow her family to the shelter—a decision made to taste a few moments of freedom, even at the cost of her life.

A new teacher with a background in psychology joins a boys' school and becomes entangled in a violent fight between two students.