40 Of The Greatest Iranian Movies You Should See
Iranian cinema has been ranked by many critics lately as the world's most important national cinema. Especially in the last twenty years, many international film festivals, famous directors and critics have honored Iranian cinema, and Persian movies have won hundreds of awards with their artistic achievements, universality, and their mostly dramatic, impressive stories.
Here are 40 of those beautiful, striking movies from Iranian cinema that you should definitely add to your watch list.
The list is not in any kind of rank order and the storylines were taken from IMDb.
1. A Separation | IMDB: 8.5 (2011)
2. Turtles Can Fly | IMDB: 8.0 (2004)
3. About Elly | IMDB: 8.2 (2009)
4. Children of Heaven | IMDB: 8.5 (1997)
5. A Time for Drunken Horses | IMDB: 7.7 (2000)
6. The Cow | IMDB: 8.2 (1969)
7. Bab'Aziz - The Prince That Contemplated His Soul | IMDB: 7.6 (2005)
8. Taste of Cherry | IMDB: 7.7 (1997)
9. The Color of Paradise | IMDB: 8.2 (1999)
10. The White Balloon | IMDB: 7.7 (1995)
11. Where is the Friend's Home? | IMDB: 8.1 (1987)
12. Life and Nothing More... | IMDB: 7.9 (1992)
13. Through the Olive Trees | IMDB: 7.7 (1994)
14. Baran | IMDB: 7.8 (2001)
15. Blackboards | IMDB: 6.9 (2000)
16. Fireworks Wednesday | IMDB: 8.0 (2006)
17. The Circle | IMDB: 7.4 (2000)
18. Close-Up | IMDB: 8.2 (1990)
19. The Lizard | IMDB: 8.4 (2004)
20. The Wind Will Carry Us | IMDB: 7.6 (1999)
21. Kandahar | IMDB: 6.8 (2001)
22. Songs of My Motherland | IMDB: 7.3 (2002)
23. Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame | IMDB: 7.3 (2007)
24. Leila | IMDB: 7.8 (1997)
25. Gabbeh | IMDB: 7.1 (1996)
26. The Cyclist | IMDB: 7.4 (1987)
27. Offside | IMDB: 7.2 (2006)
28. The Mirror | IMDB: 7.6 (1997)
29. The Father | IMDB: 7.5 (1996)
30. The Day I Became a Woman | IMDB: 7.3 (2000)
31. The Runner | IMDB: 8.0 (1984)
32. A Moment of Innocence | IMDB: 8.0 (1996)
33. Crimson Gold | IMDB: 7.6 (2003)
34. The Willow Tree | IMDB: 7.5 (2005)
Blind since childhood, Youssef has a devoted wife, loving daughter, and successful university career, but his affliction fills him with secret torment. As if in answer to his prayers, a clinic restores his sight- a miracle that is double-edged. Although this new world of sight and color floods him with ecstacy- the breathtaking images seen through his reawakened eyes include a dazzling vista of snow-blanketed hills, a shower of molten gold sparks in a jewlery foundry, an array of lollipop lights behind a rain-speckled car window- it also plunges him into a labyrinth of confusion and temptations. A pretty student begins to enclipse his previously invisible wife; he silently watches a subway pickpoket, who fixes him with a look of withering complicity. Eager to claim the lost life he feels he is owed but unable to take the next step, Youssef is inflamed with possibility and paralyzed with egoism.
35. Half Moon | IMDB: 7.3 (2006)
Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. After seven months of trying to get a permit and rounding up his ten sons, he sets out for the long and troublesome journey in a derelict bus, denying a recurring vision of his own death at half moon. Halfway the party halts at a small village to pick up female singer Hesho, which will only add to the difficulty of the undertaking, as it is forbidden for Iranian women to sing in public, let alone in the company of men. But Mamo is determined to carry through, if not for the gullible antics of the bus driver.
36. Beautiful City | IMDB: 7.9 (2004)
Akbar has just turned eighteen. He has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen when he was condemned to death. Legally speaking, he had to reach the age of eighteen so that the conviction could be carried out. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution. A'la, a friend of Akbar, who himself has undergone imprisonment for burglary, soon after his release tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar's plaintiff so as to stop the execution.
37. No One Knows About Persian Cats | IMDB: 7.3 (2009)
Negar and Ashkan, two young Iranian songwriters, decide to set up an underground band and look for other musicians to join them, but the authorities keep putting a spanner in the works. Fed up with being hindered from expressing themselves, the two young people try to get documents to leave the country for Europe.
38. Border Cafe | IMDB: 7.5 (2005)
An independently-minded Iranian widow and mother flouts tradition by re-opening her late husband's Europe/Asia border café in this socially-oriented drama from director Kambozia Partovi. In the wake of her husband's death, Reyhan (Fereshtei Sadre Orafaei) longs to re-open her late spouse's café despite rigid social standards that explicitly discourage her from doing so. Isolated from her friends and neighbors for her headstrong efforts to get the business back on her feet, Reyhan also faces pressure from her conservative brother-in-law Nasser (Parviz Parastoei) -- who longs to take Reyhan as his second wife as permitted by custom. Despite Nasser's vengeful efforts to break Reyhan's spirit and put her out of business, Reyhan's culinary skills soon begin drawing a healthy clientèle that includes kindly Greek trucker Zakariyo (Nikolas Padapopoulis); whose relationship with the determined restaurateur may provide an exit from her current crisis.
39. Bashu, the Little Stranger | IMDB: 8.1 (1989)
During the Iran-Iraq War, Bashu, a young boy loses his house and all his family. Scared, he sneaks into a truck that is leaving the area. He gets off the truck in the Northern part of the country, where everything from landscape to language is different. He meets Naii, who is trying to raise her two young children on a farm, while her husband is away. Despite cultural differences, and the fact that they do not speak the same language, Bashu and Naii slowly form a strong bond
40. Hamoun | IMDB: 8.3 (1990)
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
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