A master class in film making from the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. From scripting to casting and indeed the whole process of film, the acclaimed maker of 'Taste of Cherry' and 'Ten' explains his art as he tours his country. find out more...

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Based on fact and veering comfortably into fiction, we begin with an incident in the director's youth, when as a member of a militant anti Sha group he stabs a policeman, is shot and then taken to a torture chamber, where he remains until the 1979 Iranian revolution. Many years later, while auditioning for the director's first film the two protagonists innocently meet, each having the opportunity to give their own account of the event. A Moment Of Innocence is a gentle, intriguing film, with muc find out more...

In the immediate aftermath of her break up from Maxine, Persian, Bisexual Shirin refuses to accept their relationship is irrecoverable and sets about trying to win her back, with varying degrees of failure, whilst navigating the sociopolitical landscape that her life inhabits. Superbly written and directed by Desiree Akhavan - who also plays Shirin, well, superbly. So, all round superb, in my best Brooklyn accent. (Brett Atkinson)

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Using as its back drop the ancient Buddhist statue of Bamiyan, that was blown to pieces by the Taliban in 2001, we follow Baktay, a six-year-old girl who makes the momentous decision to go to school. Using her mum's lipstick for a pencil the wee lass sets off on her mission, but so ingrained is the violence and suffering that she and her peers have experienced that young Baktay's simple goal becomes an increasingly perilous odyssey. ‘Buddha Collapsed out of Shame' is a powerful, deeply poignant, find out more...

 

Set in contemporary Iran in the unseen world of Iranian youth culture, filled with underground parties, sex, drugs and defiance, Circumstance is the story of two vivacious young girls, Atafeh and Shireen, discovering their burgeoning sexuality, struggling with their desires and the boundaries placed upon them by the world they were born into. Winner of the Sundance Audi find out more...

The true story of Hossain Sabzian (playing himself), arrested and prosecuted for impersonating Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf (playing himself). A combination of dramatic re-enactment and real footage of all those involved, including the ensuing trial, 'Close Up' is the story of a man whose only crime is a passion for film, his guilt borne not of malice but beguiling naivety. Witty, touching, thoughtful and creative, this is a film that celebrates not just the individual but people's ability find out more...

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Pizza delivery agent Hussein struggles to find his place in a complex and contradictory modern Islamic Iran. Masterfully directed by Jafar Panahi, 'Crimson Gold' shows a very different side to Iran and its undeniable poignancy rightly earned it the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Beginning in extraordinary fashion with a hold up on a Tehran jewellery store that ends in tragedy, the film then backtracks to detail the events that drove an essentially ordinary, decent man t find out more...

A stunning and deeply moving portrayal of nomadic life in Iran. Gabbeh is a young woman who weaves the dreams and horrors of her life into the patterns of her rugs. A moving story about love and survival in a traditional society. The vibrant scenery and delicate story make this a must see. find out more...

Female journalist Rahimi travels to the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate a serial killer targeting sex workers. As she draws closer to exposing his crimes, the opportunity for justice grows harder to attain when the murderer is embraced by many as a hero. Based on the true story of the 'Spider Killer' Saeed Hanaei, who saw himself as on a mission from God as he killed 16 women between 2000 and 2001.

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A man, fired from his job, migrates abroad, leaving behind his wife and daughter, who hear no word from him for months. A feckless stranger arrives in town in search of work and is immediately drawn to the beautiful young woman whom he hears no longer has a husband. This is a world dominated by the need to survive, where migration is seen as an escape, however illusory, and families are separated by poverty. Adapted from the story ‘Safar' by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, this fourth feature from acclaime find out more...

A documentary by 14-year-old Hana Makhmalbaf, recorded with a small digital camera, showing the backstage of production in the quest of her older sister Samirato to make the film ‘At Five In The Afternoon'. What we witness is not just a remarkable portrait of post-Taliban Afghanistan and the still palpable fear of its people, in particular the women, but also a striking and not always flattering insight into the determined and sometimes ruthless methods Samira adopts in order to make her film a find out more...

Nafas is an Afghan journalist living in Canada when she gets a message from her sister, still living in the place of their birth, pronouncing that come the next solar eclipse she will commit suicide. Nafas decides to make the perilous journey to her home land and find her sister, returning to the veil she had long left behind on her return to a country ravaged by civil war and still under the iron grip of the Taliban. Kandahar is a stunning piece of film making with some breathtaking images. Sho find out more...

An aspiring fashion designer is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something darker. 

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Under Islamic law it's illegal for Iranian females to attend football/soccer matchs, but in this film a number attempt to smuggle themselves into a crucial World Cup qualifier against Bahrain. We follow the fortunes of a group who are caught, placed in a compound inside the stadium and guarded by a group of somewhat unsophisticated male army conscripts. The guards are totally terrified by the red tape of the situation they are in, for example, and most hilariously, when one of the girls needs to find out more...

Stranded in an isolated Iranian outpost a soldier struggles to provide his life with some event in an increasingly hopeless attempt to stop the days from drifting away aimlessly. So excluded from the outside world is he that Election Day catches him completely off guard, a state of confusion compounded by the idealistic young government official, whom he must escort on a vote-finding mission, being a woman. Secret Ballot is a delightful satire, humane, intelligent, perceptive and with moments of find out more...

After her family attempts to sell her into marriage, a young Afghan refugee in Iran channels her frustrations and seizes her destiny through music. Grabbing the mic, she spits fiery rhymes in the face of oppressive traditions.

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Two children, a brother and sister, rescue a stray dog on the streets of Kabul. That evening they visit the jail where their mother is a prisoner and, since her children have nowhere to live, they are permitted to stay with her one night, but the following morning they are thrown out, prison being for prisoners not homeless orphans. Desperate to return to the jail brother and sister attempt a series of robberies, but each seems doomed to failure until a stranger offers an unusual solution, the m find out more...

Highly acclaimed tale of a man who's tired of living, which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, 1997. Mr Badii cruises villages and the desert hills offering highly paid work to carefully selected young men, but his motive is not sexual, he is looking for someone to assist in his death and then bury him, suicide being forbidden to Muslims, and his final accomplice demands to know why Mr Badii wants so badly to die. How he can give up such joys of nature as the taste of cherries? Beautifully and though find out more...