Abolfazl Jalili

Acclaimed director Abolfazl Jalili offers a compassionate story of the young Afghan refugee who lives illegally in Iran. 14-year-old Kaim drifts to the Delbaran crossing on the Afghan-Iran border, where he finds work at a coffee shop frequented by truck drivers. He feels at home in this small oasis of friendliness, though the sounds of war can be heard in the background, violent bandits prowl the roads, and opium is everywhere. As we watch Kaim run from one task to another day after day, we soon realize that we are watching a boy who is being cheated out of his childhood.

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Don is the story of a young boy desperate to find work to help support his family and his heroin-addict parents. Moving from employer to employer, Don, aged only 9 and illiterate, faces an almost impossible task without an identity card. From Don's point of view, the world is a tough place, but he is determined to make the most of his situation.

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Ghesse Haye Kish was originally produced as a six-episode omnibus film with finances from investors on the Island of Kish in the Persian Gulf, which is a free zone belonging to Iran. All episodes take place on the abandoned island, which had profited from the passing ships between Asia and Europe in ancient times, and they are all about solitude.These three episodes were shown in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival in 1999.

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A young Iranian boy makes friends with a young girl of the same age against a backdrop of the humdrum daily existence of rural workers.

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This award-winning drama from Iran stars Hossein Saki as Shuan, a young man who supports himself as a cook and a security guard. Shuan's father (Nabi Jalilian) arrives one day with his daughter Balut (Zeinab Barbandi) in tow. Balut is crippled by paralysis and in poor health, and Father hopes that with Shuan's help they can find medical treatment that will restore Balut to health. However, with their meager financial resources, Shuan and his father are unable to do much for Balut; when the scientific treatments at their disposal fail to do the job, they resort to magic, and eventually prayer and sacrifice, in hopes of saving Balut's life. Det Means Girl was screened in competition at the 1995 Venice Film Festival, where it won a special prize for "its acute view of life in Iran."

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An Iranian film director (played by Jalili himself) embarks on casting for a new project. He believes he has found his lead in Samad Khani, a boy working at a bakery, whose face inspires him.

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Young Hamed, arrested for handing out political tracts banned by the Islamic Republic, finds himself in a place of great suffering, in which illiterate and penniless orphans wash floors and sell their own blood. When a disease breaks out in the prison, his life within this harsh environment becomes progressively worse, a near-daily fight for survival.

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During the Iran-Iraq war an orphan boy is taken in by an old man who lives in a cabin deep in the forest.

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A simple worker of the train station is arrested and send to Tehran because of his fighting against Shah's regime. His wife and son Milad come to Tehran to find him but this is only the beginning of their story.

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Don is the story of a young boy desperate to find work to help support his family and his heroin-addict parents. Moving from employer to employer, Don, aged only 9 and illiterate, faces an almost impossible task without an identity card. From Don's point of view, the world is a tough place, but he is determined to make the most of his situation.

Open details →

A young Iranian boy makes friends with a young girl of the same age against a backdrop of the humdrum daily existence of rural workers.

Open details →

Young Hamed, arrested for handing out political tracts banned by the Islamic Republic, finds himself in a place of great suffering, in which illiterate and penniless orphans wash floors and sell their own blood. When a disease breaks out in the prison, his life within this harsh environment becomes progressively worse, a near-daily fight for survival.

Open details →