No English translation available.
KAR O KAR - Work and Work
The sensitive portrait of an old married couple.They are talking about their life and work: producing carpets. A two-part film on the traditions around carpet-making in the Zandjan province of Iran. Ways of working, rhythms of life: in the village, we see the precise gestures of an old blind woman weaving the Djadjim. In town, we are shown the Ghavam zadan ritual, the game reserved for the carpet sellers where luck and money come into play.
My Mothers House, the Lagoon
In a house on a river, a women lives with her mother. From photographs on the wall, her deceased husband and father look down on her daily drudgery and toil. Completely contrary to what tradition prescribes, the woman is forced to earn money to take care of herself and her aging mother. It is a tough life. Every day, she gets up before daybreak to go fishing in a small rowing boat. She tries to sell her meagre catch at the local market, which is not easy. But the woman is not easily discouraged. Although she often has arguments with the other market dealers and fishermen. Back home, her mother patiently waits for her daughter to return, get her out of bed and take care of her.
The Song of Nimevar
The old man who is in charge of distributing water from the Nimevar Channel to the inhabitants, breaks down »Barema« dam each year to direct water to the river. The Channel is well prepared for annual dredging and the men gather from Nimevar and Bagherabad villages with their shovels to do this hard task. At the end of dredging, the old man is seated on the horse wearing a hat and army medals. He salutes the villagers as they parade before him. This is the beginning of a feast at the end of dredging. The annual feast is finished with traditional ceremony of passing the shovels over the head. After the feast, some of the villagers direct the water to the Channel once again voluntarily.
The Ferry
A »dubee« is a wide boat used to transport passengers between the two banks of the River Karun in southern Iran. The river current is the only source of energy and the boat is steered using a simple rudder. A small boy has to navigate across the river for the first time.
At the School of Seyed Ghelish Ishan
Untouched by the temptations of the modern world, the Seyed Ghelish Ishan Seminary, founded 200 years ago, stands as a timeless fortress in the quiet landscape of Turkmen Sahra. Young boys still come to the school to be initiated and study the scriptures. In this film, several of the young pupils find an outlet for their physical energy on their way home.
Fellow Citizen
Caught up in the insane bottlenecks of Teheran, a traffic cop tries to enforce a prohibition. Having done this, he then proceeds to demonstrate the flexibility of the law and the flexibility of the traffic cop. Kiarostami, who himself was a traffic cop in his youth, exploits the comic possibilities of this situation.
Oh Protector of the Gazelle
The film describes the ritual of visiting the shrine of »Imam Reza«, the eighth Shiite Imam, in the holy city of Mashad, and the Bunuel-like behaviour of the pilgrims.
Bab-e Jenn
In southern Iran, and especially in the ports of Bandar Abbas and Bandar Lengee, an ancient belief has it that the Djinn wind affects people by scattering them all over the world and causing a great many of them to emigrate. There are special rituals to remove the spell from the victims of this phenomenon.
The Night it Rained
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