An iguana slowly makes his way through a spacious apartment in Tehran. He looks through the closed balcony doors. Outside, a crow sits against the backdrop of the snow-capped Alborz…

For centuries, Iranian culture has cultivated a language of implication, metaphor, and layered meaning. Medieval Persian poetry found ways to explore politically and socially sensitive subjects without addressing them directly.…

If you spend any time traveling across Iran, you will quickly notice a recurring sentiment among young people in the country’s major cities: many dream of leaving. Years of economic…

Amir Naderi’s The Runner (Davandeh, 1984) is one of the defining works of 1980s Iranian cinema. It was among the first Iranian films to attract significant international attention after the…

Jafar Panahi’s feature debut The White Balloon (Badkonak-e Sefid, 1995) demonstrates how much can be expressed through economical storytelling. What begins as a simple story about a young girl gradually unfolds into…

Following the recent passing of Marjane Satrapi, this is an appropriate moment to revisit Persepolis (2007), the animated feature she co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud. Adapted from Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novels,…

After his release from prison, Iranian director Jafar Panahi returned with It Was Just an Accident (Yek tasadof-e sadeh, 2025), abandoning the veiled allegory of his earlier work for a…

Majid Majidi’s film Sun Children (Khorshid, 2020) highlights the struggles of socially disadvantaged children. Through realistic storytelling, compelling performances, and symbolic use of light and space, the film delivers a…

Noora Niasari’s feature debut Shayda (2023) tells the story of an Iranian woman in Australia struggling with domestic violence. The film, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film…