Screening: Where is the Friend's House

The first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing trilogy of films set in the northern Iranian village of Koker takes a premise of fable-like simplicity—a boy searches for the home of his classmate whose school notebook he has accidentally taken—and transforms it into a miraculous, child’s-eye adventure of the everyday. As our young hero zigzags determinedly across two towns aided (and sometimes misdirected) by those he encounters, his quest becomes both a revealing portrait of Iranian society in all its richness and complexity and a touching parable about the meaning of personal responsibility. Shot through with all the wonder, beauty, tension, and mystery one day can contain, Where is the Friend’s House? established Kiarostami’s reputation as one cinema’s most sensitive and profound humanists.

Before the screening, ISAC Research Associate Professor Abbas Alizadeh will introduce the film. UChicago Instructional Professor of Persian, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi will also give a brief introduction discussing the literary significance of the film's title.

Host or Publisher The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures