During the 2006 Iran-Bahrain match, the Tehran soccer stadium roars with 100,000 cheering men and, officially, no women. According to Islamic custom, women are not permitted to watch or participate in men's sports. Many of the ambitious young female fans who manage to sneak into the arena are caught and sent to a holding pen, guarded by male soldiers their own age. Duty makes these young men and women adversaries, but duty can't overcome their shared...

When a journalist is stranded in her remote village, Zahra takes a bold chance to reveal what the villagers will stop at nothing to keep hidden. Thus begins the remarkable story of what happened to Soraya, a kind-spirited woman whose bad marriage leads her cruel, divorce-seeking husband to trump up false charges of infidelity, which carry an unimaginable penalty.

"In this gorgeously animated drama, the lives of several strong-willed women and a young musician intersect. Their stories reveal the hypocrisies of modern Iranian society, where sex, drugs, and corruption coexist with strict religious law. In the bustling metropolis of Tehran, avoiding prohibitions has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation. Nevertheless, women invariably end up on the bottom rung of...

From the Academy Award winning director of *A Separation* and *The Salesman* comes this gripping mystery set among a group of old friends on a holiday retreat. With the return of their friend Ahmad from Germany, a group of old college pals (two married couples and a brother and sister, along with three young kids) decide to reunite for a weekend outing by the Caspian Sea. The fun starts right away as they quickly catch on to the plan of lively Sepideh,...

The film opens in a dark and drab contemporary setting but comes alive with light and color when Mahmoud remembers his childhood from the late 1940s, a time of respite for Iran before the political crises of the 1950s.

After being let go from his job on an ostrich farm a man leaves his small village to find work in the big city. As a motorcycle taxi driver, he soon becomes consumed with his passengers' lives, and is swept up in a world of greed. Now it is up to his family back home to help restore his caring and generous nature.

Reza, having distanced himself ferom the urban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and young son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working on his goldfish farm. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authorities, has taken control of nearly every aspect of regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic influence, have been pushing local farmers...

A provocative coming-of-age story that cracks open the hidden, underground world of Iranian youth culture filled with sex, drugs and defiance. This suspenseful tale of love and defiance unfolds as a wealthy family struggles to contain their teenage daughter's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's dangerous obsession.

Official Oscar Entry for Iran, SUN CHILDREN is the story of 12-year-old ALI and his three friends. Together they work hard to survive and support their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to make fast money. In a turn of events that seems miraculous, Ali is entrusted to find a hidden treasure underground. He recruits his gang, but first, to gain access to the tunnel, the children must enroll at the Sun School, a charitable...

"A folkloric carpet (Gabbeh), picturing a man and a woman riding away on horseback, is the prized possession of an elderly nomadic couple. When they ... wash it ..., a beautiful young woman ... emerges from the carpet to ... reveal the secret of the carpet. Once held hostage by the endless restraints of the family that fashioned the carpet, she reveals that the secret...lies within the mysterious black-clad rider on the white horse. Month after month,...