Explore: Farsi
Brick and Mirror
Iranian cinema’s first true modern masterpiece, released in 1964, explores fear and responsibility in the aftermath of the 1953 coup.
The Carriage Driver
Nosrat Karimi’s 1971 film about ‘marriage Iranian style’ – a kind of commedia all’iraniana.
The Cow
This 1969 film portrays the themes of solitude and obsession in the story of a poor villager whose only source of joy and livelihood is his cow.
Dead End
A devastating 1977 portrait of love and longing in a country built on fear and surveillance, based on a story by Anton Chekhov.
The Deer
Masoud Kimiai’s 1974 film embodies all that is great about Iranian cinema of the 1970s: it is political, provocative, sincere, angry and tragic.
In the Garden of Tulips
A poignant glimpse of the bond between a father and his teenage daughter at the height of the Iran–Iraq war.
My Favourite Cake
Tender and funny yet politically daring, this double-Berlinale-winning late-life romance is guaranteed to steal your heart.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Modern and traditional values clash in acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s daring family drama, which won two prizes at Cannes.
A Simple Event
Made clandestinely with little money and a skeleton crew, Sohrab Shahid Saless’s 1973 debut feature is a quietly, mysteriously simmering masterpiece.
The Stranger and the Fog
In Bahram Beyzaie’s dazzling 1974 film, a mysterious stranger arrives in a coastal village on a drifting boat and falls for a local woman.
Tall Shadows of the Wind
This symbolic tale of villagers terrorised by a scarecrow they themselves have planted is based on a story by co-screenwriter Houshang Golshiri.
Tranquility in the Presence of Others
Nasser Taghavi’s poignant, tough-minded 1969 adaptation of a story by Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi.
Universal Language
This zany transformation of Canada’s beigest city into the site of a classic Iranian film won Cannes Directors’ Fortnight’s first ever Audience Award.