Favorite Middle Eastern Films
by sebbysebby | created - 02 Aug 2018 | updated - 2 weeks ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Close-Up (1990)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The 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.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah
Votes: 23,025 | Gross: $0.00M
2. A Moment of Innocence (1996)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy, Drama
A 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.
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Mirhadi Tayebi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Ali Bakhsi, Ammar Tafti Dehghan
Votes: 4,403 | Gross: $0.04M
3. Hello Cinema (1995)
75 min | Documentary, Comedy, Drama
Makhmalbaf puts an advertisement in the papers calling for an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting and the screen tests of the would-be actors.
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Shaghayeh Djodat, Behzad Dorani, Feizola Gashghai, Maryam Keyhan
Votes: 2,185
4. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A 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.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,575 | Gross: $7.10M
5. The Circle (2000)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Maryiam Palvin Almani, Nargess Mamizadeh, Mojgan Faramarzi, Elham Saboktakin
Votes: 6,682 | Gross: $0.67M
6. Through the Olive Trees (1994)
G | 103 min | Drama
A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992).
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai
Votes: 10,001 | Gross: $0.04M
7. Crimson Gold (2003)
Unrated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An Iranian pizza delivery man sees the worst of corruption and social unbalance in his city and is driven to crime.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji, Shahram Vaziri
Votes: 5,300 | Gross: $0.15M
8. The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
74 min | Comedy, Drama
A film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can ... See full summary »
Director: Marzieh Makhmalbaf | Stars: Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh, Ameneh Passand
Votes: 1,991 | Gross: $0.34M
9. A Light in the Fog (2008)
76 min | Drama
A widow and her father live alone and make a living by mending oil lamps and making charcoal.
Director: Panahbarkhoda Rezaee | Stars: Parivash Nazarieh, Masoud Heshmat, Behrooz Jalili
Votes: 80
10. This Is Not a Film (2011)
Not Rated | 75 min | Documentary
It'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.
Directors: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi | Stars: Jafar Panahi, Igi, Mrs. Gheirat, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Votes: 5,644 | Gross: $0.08M
11. Children of Heaven (1997)
PG | 89 min | Drama, Family, Sport
After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi
Votes: 80,723 | Gross: $0.93M
12. Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
On 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.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Hediyeh Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hamid Farrokhnezhad, Pantea Bahram
Votes: 13,493
13. Still Life (1974)
93 min | Drama
The daily life of Mohammad Sardari(Zadour Bonyadi) , a railway switchman on the verge of retirement, who lives with his wife and soldier son near the railway track.
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Zadour Bonyadi, Mohammed Kani, Hedayatollah Navid, Hibibollah Safarian
Votes: 1,327
14. Yek Etefagh sadeh (1973)
80 min | Drama
A small schoolboy lives an austere life with his family in Northern coasts of Iran.
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Hedayatollah Navid, Hibibollah Safarian, Ane Mohammad Tarikhi, Mohammed Zamani
Votes: 664
15. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Behzad Dorani, Noghre Asadi, Roushan Karam Elmi, Bahman Ghobadi
Votes: 12,324 | Gross: $0.21M
16. The Mirror (1997)
95 min | Drama
When 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.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Mina Mohammad Khani, Kazem Mojdehi, Naser Omuni, M. Shirzad
Votes: 3,138 | Gross: $0.04M
17. The Past (2013)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery
An Iranian man deserts his French wife and her two children to return to his homeland. Meanwhile, his wife starts up a new relationship, a reality her husband confronts upon his wife's request for a divorce.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet
Votes: 50,898 | Gross: $1.33M
18. Taste of Cherry (1997)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolhosein Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi
Votes: 36,779 | Gross: $0.31M
19. And Life Goes On (1992)
Not Rated | 95 min | Adventure, Drama
A 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.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Farhad Kheradmand, Pouya Payvar, Behrouz Abedini, Shahin Abzan
Votes: 7,466
20. The White Balloon (1995)
Unrated | 85 min | Drama, Family
Several people try to help a little girl to find the money her mom gave her to buy a goldfish with.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kafili, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy, Anna Borkowska
Votes: 8,245 | Gross: $0.47M
21. About Elly (2009)
TV-PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
The 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.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Taraneh Alidoosti, Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Merila Zare'i
Votes: 57,174 | Gross: $0.11M
22. The Color of Paradise (1999)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Family
The story of Mohammed, a blind Iranian boy and his father, Hashem, who is always oscillating between accepting his son as he is and abandoning him, as he represents a burden for him, after the loss of his wife.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari
Votes: 18,201 | Gross: $1.81M
23. Offside (2006)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
The struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi, Mohammad Asarian
Votes: 8,609 | Gross: $0.18M
24. The Willow Tree (2005)
PG | 96 min | Drama
Youssef, a blind university professor, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before?
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Parviz Parastui, Roya Teymourian, Soghra Obeisi, Mohammad Amir Naji
Votes: 4,527 | Gross: $0.03M
25. Khake Sar Beh Mohr (1977)
90 min | Drama
A 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Marva Nabili | Star: Flora Shabaviz
Votes: 116
26. Where Is the Friend's House? (1987)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Family
Eight-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.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Khodabakhsh Defaei, Iran Outari
Votes: 18,712
27. Baran (2001)
PG | 94 min | Drama, Romance
In a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Hossein Abedini, Zahra Bahrami, Mohammad Amir Naji, Hossein Mahjoub
Votes: 8,964 | Gross: $0.13M
28. The Song of Sparrows (2008)
PG | 96 min | Drama, Family
When 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Maryam Akbari, Kamran Dehghan, Hamid Aghazi
Votes: 11,109 | Gross: $0.12M
29. Leila (I) (1997)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The 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.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa, Jamileh Sheikhi, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia
Votes: 4,110 | Gross: $0.05M
30. The Salesman (2016)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Thriller
While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Mina Sadati, Babak Karimi
Votes: 64,722 | Gross: $2.40M
31. The Traveler (1974)
83 min | Drama
A grade-school-age boy, neglected by his parents, lies, cheats, and steals to accumulate enough money to afford a bus ride to a large city and a ticket to see his favorite soccer team play.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Masud Zandbegleh, Hassan Darabi, Mostafa Tari, Hasan Arab
Votes: 2,148
32. Divorce Iranian Style (1998)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary
A documentary about real divorce cases in Iran's tribunals.
Directors: Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Votes: 554
33. Under the Shadow (2016)
PG-13 | 84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home.
Director: Babak Anvari | Stars: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Arash Marandi
Votes: 30,124 | Gross: $0.03M
34. Taxi (III) (2015)
Not Rated | 82 min | Comedy, Drama
Banned from making movies by the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver and makes a movie about social challenges in Iran.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Jafar Panahi, Nasrin Sotoudeh
Votes: 16,544 | Gross: $0.32M
35. Gett (2014)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
After a lukewarm marriage of over twenty years, a woman appeals to her husband's compassion to obtain the desirable divorce document in front of a court, which proves to be more challenging than she would expect.
Directors: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz | Stars: Ronit Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian, Gabi Amrani, Dalia Beger
Votes: 6,889 | Gross: $0.99M
36. Cairo Station (1958)
Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama
A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
Director: Youssef Chahine | Stars: Farid Shawqi, Hind Rustum, Youssef Chahine, Hassan el Baroudi
Votes: 5,355
37. Shadow of Truth (2016– )
TV-MA | 40 min | Documentary, Crime
A four part documentary mini-series that examines the mysterious murder case of Tair Rada, an Israeli high-school girl who was found brutally murdered in her school's toilets during an ordinary day.
Stars: Shila Inbar, Ilana Rada, Rubi Hammerschlag, Elkana Leist
Votes: 1,572
38. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
R | 90 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Director: Ari Folman | Stars: Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ori Sivan
Votes: 60,414 | Gross: $2.28M
39. West Beirut (1998)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In April, 1975, civil war breaks out; Beirut is partitioned along a Moslem-Christian line. Tarek is in high school, making Super 8 movies with his friend, Omar. At first the war is a lark: ... See full summary »
Director: Ziad Doueiri | Stars: Rami Doueiri, Naamar Sahli, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin
Votes: 4,860 | Gross: $0.34M
40. Wadjda (2012)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour | Stars: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd
Votes: 21,473 | Gross: $1.35M
41. Mustang (2015)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama
When five orphan girls are seen innocently playing with boys on a beach, their scandalized conservative guardians confine them while forced marriages are arranged.
Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven | Stars: Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan
Votes: 40,906 | Gross: $0.85M
42. Journey of Hope (1990)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama
The story of a poor Turkish family who try to emigrate illegally to Switzerland.
Director: Xavier Koller | Stars: Necmettin Çobanoglu, Nur Sürer, Emin Sivas, Erdinç Akbas
Votes: 2,249 | Gross: $0.26M
43. Gabbeh (1996)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
When an old couple washes their gabbeh - a type of Persian rug - a young woman magically appears and tells them her life story.
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Shaghayeh Djodat, Hossein Moharami, Rogheih Moharami, Abbas Sayah
Votes: 3,667 | Gross: $0.27M
44. Fellow Citizen (1983)
48 min | Documentary
In this documentary a citizen is trying in a street of Tehran to control the traffic and not let people to break the law which cause them to react differently and lead to funny situations.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Votes: 246
45. No Bears (2022)
106 min | Drama, Romance
Two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Jafar Panahi, Vahid Mobasseri, Bakhtiyar Panjeei, Mina Kavani
Votes: 3,797
46. Hit the Road (2021)
93 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Follows a chaotic, tender family that is on a road trip across a rugged landscape and fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others' nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet.
Director: Panah Panahi | Stars: Pantea Panahiha, Mohammad Hassan Madjooni, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar
Votes: 6,481
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