The 40 best Iranian films
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40 titles
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsKhosro ShakibaiEzzatolah EntezamiHossein SarsharHamoon'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.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
- DirectorRakhshan BanietemadStarsGolab AdinehMohammad Reza ForutanBaran KosariA valuable visual commentary on modern society, 'Under The Skin Of The City' follows one Iranian family in their eternal struggle to stay afloat financially and emotionally. Touba works hard at a textile factory to make ends meet during the day, returning in the evening to face the trials and tribulations of her family: her pregnant daughter who frequently suffers at the hands of her abusive husband, a son embroiled in radical politics, and another son who hopes to escape to Japan. In their fight for self-determination and independence, Touba and her family come to represent the plight of the working class in modern day Tehran.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorForugh FarrokhzadStarsForugh FarrokhzadEbrahim GolestanHossein MansouriSet in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
- 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.
- DirectorMajid MajidiStarsMohammad Amir NajiMaryam AkbariKamran DehghanWhen an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter's hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him - incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence, thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis.
- DirectorMohsen MakhmalbafStarsEzzatolah EntezamiMehdi HashemiMohamad Ali KeshavarzAn abstract retelling of the history of Film in Iran.
- DirectorKiumars PoorahmadStarsElham CharkhandehMohammad Reza ForutanHilda HashempourHamed is unemployed. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter immigrate to Europe for a better future. Missing his family, he imprisons himself and starts to revise his life in isolation.
- DirectorKhosrow SinaiStarsMehdi AhmadiGhazal SaremiHamid FarrokhnezhadAhlam who is studying medicine in the college is in love with Dr. Parviz and wants to marry him. But according to her tribe's laws and traditions she must marry her cousin Farhan. She decides to face her family and find a solution.
- DirectorKamran ShirdelA documentary which explores what did or did not happen on a rainy night a young boy allegedly saved a train from crashing.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsHediyeh TehraniTaraneh AlidoostiHamid FarrokhnezhadOn the last Wednesday before the spring solstice ushers in the Persian New Year, people set off fireworks following an ancient Zoroastrian tradition. Rouhi, spending her first day at a new job, finds herself in the midst of a different kind of fireworks -- a domestic dispute between her new boss and his wife.
- DirectorKamal TabriziStarsParviz ParastuiBahram EbrahimiReza SaeediA recently jailed petty thief disguises as a Mullah and succeeds in escaping; but has to stay in the Mullah' role longer than he expected to.
- DirectorBahman GhobadiStarsAyoub AhmadiRojin YounessiAmaneh Ekhtiar-diniYoung Iranian Kurdish siblings try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsSima Mobarak-ShahiShayesteh IraniAyda SadeqiThe struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
- 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.
- DirectorAli RafieStarsReza KianianRoya NonahaliGolshifteh FarahaniAfter 22 years, Aziz decides to return to his hometown, to sell some family possessions, including the house where he was born. But for his astonishment, the place is now a small restaurant, run by four women, one of them a girl whom he once dated. Attieh, the girl, tries to convince him not to sell the place by, instead of telling him a story a day as Sheherazade, cooking him a delicious dish every day.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsHossain SabzianMohsen MakhmalbafAbolfazl AhankhahThe true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
- DirectorManijeh HekmatStarsRoya NonahaliRoya TeymourianPegah AhangaraniSpanning 18 years in an Iranian women's prison, this follows two women: the new prison warden, a tough as nails devout Muslim who has served in the army on the Iraqi front, and a young midwife, Mitra, who is serving her sentence for killing her mother's abusive husband. In the early years, Mitra is repeatedly punished as the warden tries to break her. This includes punishment for delivering a baby in the prison cell while all of the prison staff has taken shelter during an Iraqi bombing. The warden's attitude starts to change after 8 years, when Mitra tries to protect a new inmate from rape at the hands of her older cellmates. When the baby comes back in 1991 as a 17 year old delinquent, Sepideh, the warden respects Mitra enough to protect the girl.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsHomayoun ErshadiAbdolhosein BagheriAfshin Khorshid BakhtiariAn Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.
- DirectorSaman MoghadamStarsFarhad AeeshReza AhadiPegah AhangaraniAn invitation for a famous Iranian bandmaster, Maxx, living in a foreign country, is accidentally sent to a young cabaret singer with the same name.
- DirectorBahram BeyzaieStarsSusan TaslimiParviz PoorhosseiniAdnan AfravianAn Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
- DirectorNasser TaghvaiStarsDariush ArjmandAli NasirianSaeed PoursamimiKhaje Majed informs the authorities about Captain Khorshid smuggling with his ship. The authorities take the smuggling and burn it. Farhan is a new arriver in the port. He wants to smuggle some political exiled people to some Arab countries. He asked Captain Khorshid to help him. At first Captain is refusing but finally due to financial problems he agree to help them. But the exiled ones have plans to rub Khaje Majed. They kill him and steal some pearls and jewels and bring it with themselves to the ship. Captain is forced by gun to obey them. In the middle of the way he manages to kill one of them. Then a brutal fight between him and the rest of the gang is occur which lead to the kill of all of them.
- DirectorMasud KimiaiStarsBehrouz VossoughiFaramarz GharibianNosrat PartoviThe Deer is a typical Kimiai-style tale of friendship and honour. When a good man fallen on hard times meets his erstwhile protégé, fate puts their relationship to the ultimate test: will you die for me?
- DirectorKianoush AyariStarsKhosrow ShojazadehSiamak AtlassiMehrdad Vafadar ShooshtariGreed and power are the principal themes in Kianus Aayari's tale about two brothers in 1970's Iran. When the National Iranian Oil Company expands its drilling operations in the region, one family finds themselves displaced from their home and cast adrift in the south of the country. The compensation paid by the NIOC sets the brothers against each other, and the ensuing conflict threatens to unravel the unity of the entire family. A brilliant account of familial adversities set against the backdrop of Pahlavi Iran, 'Beyond The Fire' is a stunning example of storytelling within a historical context and an excellent piece of cinema.
- DirectorReza MirkarimiStarsAlireza PhoenixMasoud RayeganAfshin HashemiDr. Alam, a very profiled specialist in neurology and a successful surgeon, is drowned in his professional and social work, in a way that he has totally forgotten all about his son Saman. Samantha the beautiful nights of desert with it starfull sky attracts Saman to itself and the young boy falls in love with night sky and observation of stars. Due to an event the doctor leaves his profession and work behind and goes through the desert to find his son.
- DirectorAmir NaderiStarsMasoud GudarziMehdi JavadiShahla DarvishiSet on the sun-drenched 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. No one is more obsessed than Amiroo, gentle and heavy-set, who seems willing to do anything to get close to the harmonica and its owner.
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsGolab AdinehParsa PirouzfarAmin HayayeeA mother of a poor family, has guests coming over, yet doesn't know how to get the dinner party altogether with limited resources.
- DirectorParviz KimiaviStarsFahimeh RastkarParviz KimiaviAgha Seyed ali Mirza SajadiA director of a television series on the history of cinema, who has been grappling with the screenplay of his first feature film, receives an assignment to oversee the installation of a television relay station in a remote region of Zahedan province, near the Afghanistan border. He has already hired Turkoman tribespeople for his film and selected his filming location. Meanwhile his wife, who is working on her Ph.D. dissertation about the Mongol invasion of Iran, attempts to dissuade him from accepting the assignment. One night, while working on his history of the cinema series, the director fantasizes a diagetic world that consists of clever juxtapositions of his different worlds: the history of cinema, the history of the mongol invasion, his own film idea and his imminent assignment to the desert.
- DirectorBahram BeyzaieStarsMozhdeh ShamsaiMajid MozaffariReza KianianWhile the post-revolution frenzy is at its peak in Iran, a woman attempts to help her secretive husband out of jail by settling his debts for him on her own.
- DirectorParisa BakhtavarStarsBaran KosariSaber AbarMehran ModiriMohammad is sent to an apartment situated in uptown Tehran to install their satellite dishes, while having satellite TV is illegal in Iran. He arrives there with a girl named Shirin who seems to be his girlfriend and is in need of some money to repair her father's car with which she has had an accident the day before. Each of the house's residents have their own fish to fry and they also want their satellites installed as soon as possible.
- DirectorMohamad Reza AalamiStarsJavad GolpayganiHossein ParvareshJamshid HashempurA person with the Nickname of Mosafer (Passenger/Traveller), who is Suspected of Working in an Anti-Government Organization, is Arrested, and on the Pretext that he Needs to be Taken to the Security Organization to Confront One of His Comrades, They Wander Along the Road With Two Agents. The Mosafer's Companion Was Killed by the Officers While Fleeing, and the Two Officers Hope that the Mosafer's Actions and Words Will Reveal Important Points Along the Way.
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsAkbar AbdiEzzatolah EntezamiFaramarz FardtombekianThe tenants of a rundown building on the outskirts of Tehran with no legal heir face major housing problems to deal with: major repairs and threat of eviction by greedy building manager who wants to own the building.
- DirectorMohsen AbdolvahabRakhshan BanietemadStarsFarbod Masoud VaziriBita FarahiBaran KosariSara is addicted to drugs. Her fiance Arash is away in Canada studying and doesn't know about her addiction. One month before his returning to Iran Sara decides to quit her addiction but that will not be as easy as she thinks so.
- DirectorBahram BeyzaieStarsParviz FanizadehMohamad Ali KeshavarzJamshid LayeghA well educated and humble teacher arrives in a new city and at a new job in the pre-revolutionary Iran. He falls in love with a hardworking underprivileged young woman that nurses her very old mother and raises her young brother. In an environment where commitments and social problems often stand in the way between people and their dreams.
- DirectorAli ZhekanStarsSusan TaslimiHossein MahjoubFirouz Behjat MohammadiRezvaneh is informed that her daughter Golbooteh is gave birth to a child. She rides the mare and with Rahmat her brother depart for the village in which her daughter lives. In the way she reviews her life. That the rain has destroyed their corps and that she and her 4 orphans are having such a hard life. That her daughter Golbooteh is forced to this marriage for only a mare in return because they are poor. After reviewing these bitter memories she reaches the village and finds her daughter smiling in the bed with her husband sitting by her side.
- DirectorMasoud Jafari JozaniStarsAli NasirianEzzatolah EntezamiValiyollah ShirandamiThe body of an English man who is been killed with a scythe is found in the Bakhtiary's area. Khoda Morad whose job is making stony lions with another man Kohyar bury the body. An officer A'meri with an English diplomat guiding him come to investigate in the murder case and arrest the murderer. They accuse Kohyar of the murder causing a dispute between people there.
- DirectorKianoush AyariStarsKazem AfrandniaManijeh AghaiNasser AghayiA scriptwriter who can't convince the company to produce his movie, decides to operate the story in real life.