20th Century Flicks, Bristol

10 ON TEN (2004)

CertificationE Our Rating

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...

24 FRAMES (2017)

CertificationPG Our Rating

24 Frames is an experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life. It is a collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minute films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs.

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A MOMENT OF INNOCENCE (NOON VA GOLDOON) (1995)

CertificationU Our Rating

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...

A SEPARATION (2011)

Certification12 Our Rating

The stand out film of the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and winner of the Golden Bear, A Separation is a suspenseful and intelligent drama detailing the fractures and tensions at the heart of Iranian society, but using the disintegration of a marriage as the pivot by which all turns. When his wife leaves him Nadar hires a maid to help him with his ailing father, but the young woman has many secrets and soon he fin find out more...

A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES (2002)

Certification12 Our Rating

This is an unsentimental, brutal and a breathtakingly beautiful film. The fact that it is described as a docu-drama is a credit to the performances of the children and the directoral vision of Bahman Ghobadi. A group of orphaned Kurdish children live on the poverty line in a village on the Iran-Iraq border. Doing anything they can to make money, the children work in markets, carry tyres, and work for smugglers though are often cheated by their employers. Working in extreme conditions, they feed find out more...

ABOUT ELLY (2012)

Certification12 Our Rating

A tight-knit group of friends holidaying on the Caspian Sea find their lives, their lies and their deceptions unravelling before them. Intelligent, shrewd and meticulously crafted, ‘About Elly’ confirms Asghar Farhadi's (A Separation) status as one of the finest purveyors of human drama in cinema today.
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AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON (2003)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Following the fall of the Taliban, Nogreh, a young woman, decides to resume her education so as to be to fulfil her ambitions to enter politics. Her fundamentalist father, however, feels that his world has collapsed. With refugees flooding to the city Nogreh and her father are forced to move from place to place for shelter as their living conditions become overcrowded. find out more...

BAG OF RICE (1996)

CertificationU Our Rating

Gentle, simple tale of a lonely little girl (an impressive performance from Jairan Abadzade) whose shopping trip turns into an epic adventure. With her parents and siblings too busy to entertain her, four year old Jairan begs her elderly neighbour to take her on her weekly trek across town to buy a bag of rice. But the busy Tehran market streets provide plenty of distractions, and when the pair arrive to find the shop closed, their problems are only just starting........... Winner of the Golden find out more...

BLACKBOARDS (2000)

CertificationPG Our Rating

In the harsh environment of the Iran/Iraq border two nomadic teachers attempt to ply their trade. Reeboir hooks up with a group of teenage smugglers while Said joins a group of old men as they make the trek back to their decimated homes in Iraq. Winner of the jury prize at Cannes 2000, this is the second feature from the director of 'The Apple' and proof, if proof were needed, that her first film was no fluke; "Blackboards" is strikingly visual and masterfully observed. find out more...

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BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME (2007)

CertificationPG Our Rating

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 poignan find out more...

CIRCUMSTANCE (2011)

Certification15 Our Rating

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...

CLOSE-UP (1990)

CertificationU Our Rating

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...

CLOSED CURTAIN (2013)

Certification12 Our Rating

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CRIMSON GOLD (2003)

Certification15 Our Rating

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...

FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY (2006)

Certification12 Our Rating

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.

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FOR SAMA (2019)

Certification18 Our Rating

FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab's life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and surv find out more...

GABBEH (1996)

CertificationU Our Rating

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...

HALF MOON (2006)

Certification15 Our Rating

Mamo is an elderly Iraqi Kurdish musican, long exiled in Iran, who is determined to take his 10 sons and a female singer, illegal in Iran, to perform one last concert in his homeland. Having overcome the bureaucratic hassles, and despite visions of his own forthcoming death, he sets off, with entourage, in a beat-up old bus on a troubled journey toward the snow covered border mountains in search of his destination. find out more...

IT'S WINTER (2006)

Certification12 Our Rating

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 acclai find out more...

JOY OF MADNESS (2003)

CertificationPG Our Rating

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 find out more...