The Night it Rained
(AN SHAB KE BARUN AMAD )

Kamran Shirdel
Iran 1967-79 | 35 Min. | 35 mm, OmfU

An item appears in the Iran­ian press about a vil­lage boy who averts a train cat­a­stro­phe by warn­ing the author­i­ties that the track was dam­aged by set­ting fire to his coat. A film crew is sent to make an epic film based about this inci­dent. But whilst the rail­way author­i­ties com­plete­ly deny the boy’s exis­tence, the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al recog­nis­es him as a hero. In the mean­time, dozens of heroes come for­ward, each claim­ing to have saved the day. 

»Shird­el paints a bit­ter­sweet pic­ture of Iran­ian Soci­ety in which truth, rumour, and lies can no longer be distinguished.« 

Robert Richter