UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema: Woman and Child (2025)

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Patrons who have registered will need to obtain their free tickets at the box office, where seating will be assigned. Any seats remaining 15 minutes before showtime will be released to standby patrons.

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Iran, 2025

After the powerhouse family drama Leila’s Brothers (2023 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema) led to a J*il sentence in Iran, writer-director Saeed Roustaee returned to Cannes last year with this more diffuse but still devastating story about a woman seemingly under siege from all sides. Parinaz Izadyar stars as Mahnaz, a nurse and widow with two children, including a rebellious teenage son, looking forward to starting over with new partner Hamid (Payman Maadi) until a sudden tragedy and a shocking betrayal sets Mahnaz on a desperate course of revenge against the school system, the courts and her own family. 

DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 131 min. Director/Screenwriter: Saeed Roustaee. With: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi, Soha Niasti. 

Preceded by 

Farhang Short Film Festival 1st prize winner

Iran, 2025

After ill-conceived irrigation projects and drought rendered Lake Hāmūn on the Iran-Afghanistan border a dust bowl, hundreds of villagers migrated away, except for an old woman whose solitary routine of gathering up dead fish is the subject of this quietly compelling documentary.  

DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 27 min. Directors/Screenwriters: Maria Mavati, Ehsan Farokhi Fard.