5 Must Watch Iranian Movies

Iranian films following the Iranian revolution are considered to be some of the best cinematic exports from Asia, particularly after Academy award winner The Separation and nominee The Kite Runner were met with critical acclaim.

The following Iranian films are rich in art, filled with the colours of Eastern culture and are a must watch for any film enthusiast.

1. About Elly – (Darbareye Elly) After Ahmad’s return from Germany, a group of friends set out on a weekend retreat by the Caspian Sea. Sepideh (one of the friends) brings along her daughter’s school teacher Elly in hopes of setting her up with the recently divorced Ahmad. The gripping mystery begins when Elly vanishes – her disappearance brings about a series of deceptive activity and unfolds the truths that can shatter that which is dear to them.

3. Children of heaven – (Bacheha-Ye aseman) After losing Zahra’s shoe, the impoverished siblings Ali and Zahra are caught in difficult circumstances that they decide to solve themselves without letting theirparents know. In order to do that they play out a tale of care and deep family love.

4. Bashu – the little stranger (Gharibeye koochak) – An intense drama of a kid escaping his war-torn village after witnessing his parents’ death caused by bombing. From the very beginning to the end, Bashu struggles to survive as he finds his way to a town far away from his in the hope of finding a home.

5. Beautiful city (Shah-re Ziba) – After killing his girlfriend at the age of 16, Akbar is now 18 and waiting to be transferred into the adult prison where he will await his death penalty. Akbar’s father couldn’t come up with enough money for blood money, but there might be a way to seek forgiveness from the father of the murdered girl, Rahmati.

The actors of these films might not be stars – some of them aren’t even well known but that is what makes these intensely intuitive stories more real. The way the Iranian writers have penned some really intense and pure emotions has been creatively garnished by the directors, justifying their regular Oscar nominations. These films depict a culture quite different to that in Australia, giving them the ability to tell us the stories we haven’t heard and let us experience places we’ve never seen.