Iranian Cinema: Between Dreams and Hope / The Great Yawn of History

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Iran, 2025

A frequent collaborator with filmmaker Ali Asgari, writer-director Farnoosh Samadi centers the inequity and injustices faced by Iranian women in much of her work. In her second feature behind the camera, Samadi expands her frame to include Azad (Fereshteh Hosseini), a trans man, longing to start his life with his lover Nora (Sadaf Asgari), but who must confront his estranged father before he can. Hosseini and Asgar (another Asgari film regular) deliver deeply affecting performances in a story that is by turns tender and harrowing about the power of love over hate.

DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles,106 min. Director/Screenwriter: Farnoosh Samadi. With: Fereshteh Hosseini, Sadaf Asgari, Hooman Rahnemoon.

Iran, 2024

Part adventure story, part mystical allegory, director Aliyar Rasti’s The Great Yawn of History begins with an eccentric job interview. Beitollah (Mohammad Aghebati) drops dollar bills with his contact information around the city, then interviews anyone who calls about their belief system. Answering that he believes in nothing, Shoja (Amirhossein Hosseini) gets the gig: following Beitollah deep into the Iranian desert to find a box of gold coins he saw in a vision. Rasti’s debut feature won the Special Jury Award in the Encounters section of the Berlin International Film Festival for its exploration of faith and greed set against the hardscrabble landscapes of a depopulated rural Iran.

DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 93 min. Director/Screenwriter: Aliyar Rasti. With: Mohammad Aghebati, Amirhossein Hosseini, Saber Abar.

Preceded by

Farhang Short Film Festival Audience Choice Award winner

Iran, 2024

In a village in remote Iranian Kurdistan, an old mother waits for her son to return from military service. When he doesn’t arrive as expected, she sets out to find him only to discover a truth about his identity that will change their lives forever.

DCP, color, in Kurdish with English subtitles,15 min. Director/Screenwriter: Saman Hosseinpuor. With: Maryam Boubani, Kurosh Ahmadi, Kianoosh Farzin.

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