A List_ Iranian movies
I live in the UK and I've only seen 20-25 Iranian films so am aware my knowledge is limited. Also, I'm not generally a fan of navel-gazing, of staged, theatrical morality, of 'realism' or of 'docudrama'. I believe there is no such thing as depicting "reality" in film as there is no escaping authorship all along the creative process. Somehow these films transcend the limitations of that cerebral strand of arthouse cinema - they are passionate and magical and I recommend them.
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- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsMohamad Ali KeshavarzFarhad KheradmandZarifeh ShivaA depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992).
- DirectorMohammad Ali TalebiStarsAli AtashkarSamaneh Jafar-JalaliRaya NasiriChakmeh is a warm and pleasant story of a little girl who gets a pair of new red rubber boots. Unfortunately, at home she notices the other boot has disappeared, and she can't find it anywhere. A boy see how much the boots meant to the girl, and decides to help in the search.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsJafar PanahiNasrin SotoudehBanned from making movies by the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver and makes a movie about social challenges in Iran.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsMina Mohammad KhaniKazem MojdehiNaser OmuniWhen a young girl becomes lost in the hustle and bustle of Tehran, her journey turns into a dazzling exercise on the nature of film itself.
- DirectorAmir NaderiStarsMadjid NiroumandAbbas NazeriMusa TorkizadehAfter enrolling in a school, an impoverished boy finds conflict with his classmates and decides to compete to earn their respect.
- DirectorMohammad Ali TalebiStarsHadi AlipourAmir JanfadaMajid AlipourA boy breaks a window at his school and sets out to fix it on his own during a storm.
- DirectorAmir NaderiStarsMadjid NiroumandA young teenager returns home after an absence to find his village in Iran deserted because of an incredibly severe drought. He begins a search to find his family, traveling through an amazingly bleak and desolate landscape. Primarily an essay on the issue of humans vs. nature, the film is of interest for technical and cultural reasons.
- DirectorMohammad Ali TalebiStarsMasume EskandariJairan AbadzadeShirin BinaA small child and her elderly neighbor are having all kinds of small adventures in the streets of Tehran to get a sack of rice.
- DirectorSamira MakhmalbafStarsMassoumeh NaderiZahra NaderiGhorban Ali NaderiAfter twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
- DirectorBahman GhobadiStarsAyoub AhmadiRojin YounessiAmaneh Ekhtiar-diniYoung Iranian Kurdish siblings try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.
- DirectorMohsen MakhmalbafStarsNelofer PaziraHassan TantaiIke OgutAfter an Afghanistan-born woman who lives in Canada receives a letter from her suicidal sister, she takes a perilous journey through Afghanistan to try to find her.
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsLeila HatamiAli MosaffaJamileh SheikhiThe story of a semi-modern Iranian couple, who are trying to fight the old beliefs and old generation, but is a failing battle because the man is not strong enough.
- DirectorBahram BeyzaieStarsMozhdeh ShamsaiHoma RustaJamileh SheikhiA young woman's wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters' mother refuses to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service? The film is transcendental in its resolution.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsBabek Ahmed PoorAhmed Ahmed PoorKhodabakhsh DefaeiEight-year-old Ahmed has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad's notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad's home in the neighbouring village.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsFarhad KheradmandPouya PayvarBehrouz AbediniA director and his son return to a region damaged by the Guilan earthquake, hoping to find the children who appeared in his film a few years earlier.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsTaraneh AlidoostiGolshifteh FarahaniShahab HosseiniThe mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsSima Mobarak-ShahiShayesteh IraniAyda SadeqiThe struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsJafar PanahiVahid MobasseriBakhtiyar PanjeeiTwo parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsBehnaz JafariJafar PanahiMarziyeh RezaeiThree actresses at different stages of their career. One from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, one popular star of today known throughout the country, and a young girl longing to attend a drama conservatory.
- DirectorMojtaba MirtahmasbJafar PanahiStarsJafar PanahiIgiMrs. GheiratIt's been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsAida MohammadkhaniMohsen KafiliFereshteh Sadre OrafaiySeveral people try to help a little girl to find the money her mom gave her to buy a goldfish with.
- DirectorMarva NabiliStarsFlora ShabavizA young woman in pre-revolution Iran is caught between the traditional values of her small village and her own yearnings for independence and individuality. Her persistent refusal of marriage proposals coupled with her unseemly removal of her hood causes her family to seek the help of an exorcist, convinced she must be possessed by evil spirits.
- DirectorMohsen MakhmalbafStarsMirhadi TayebiMohsen MakhmalbafAli BakhsiA semi-autobiographical account of Makmahlbaf's experience as a teenager when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsEzzatolah EntezamiMahin ShahabiAli NasirianAn old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.