Iranian Movies Worth Watching
by Mohammad_Khosravi | created - 26 Mar 2020 | updated - 08 Mar 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Taste of Cherry (1997)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolhosein Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi
Votes: 36,782 | Gross: $0.31M
2. White Nights (2003)
103 min | Drama, Romance
Bright Nights is the story of the lives of two lonely people. The film tells the story of how the two characters met, became attached and separated from the language of a university professor.
Director: Farzad Motamen | Stars: Mehdi Ahmadi, Hanieh Tavassoli, Mohsen Shah-Ebrahimi, Hilda Hashempour
Votes: 1,462
3. The House Is Black (1963)
20 min | Documentary, Short
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
Director: Forugh Farrokhzad | Stars: Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri
Votes: 5,567
4. Brick and Mirror (1966)
126 min | Drama
Hashem (Zakariya Hashemi) is a cab driver who finds an infant child in the back seat of his cab one night after he gives a ride to a young woman. He and his girlfriend, Taji (Taji Ahmadi), ... See full summary »
Director: Ebrahim Golestan | Stars: Taji Ahmadi, Zackaria Hashemi, Goli Bozorgmehr, Masoud Faghih
Votes: 887
5. The Cow (1969)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama
An old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Ezzatolah Entezami, Mahin Shahabi, Ali Nasirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi
Votes: 7,990
6. Still Life (1974)
93 min | Drama
The daily life of Mohammad Sardari(Zadour Bonyadi) , a railway switchman on the verge of retirement, who lives with his wife and soldier son near the railway track.
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Zadour Bonyadi, Mohammed Kani, Hedayatollah Navid, Hibibollah Safarian
Votes: 1,327
7. The Runner (1984)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
After enrolling in a school, an impoverished boy finds conflict with his classmates and decides to compete to earn their respect.
Director: Amir Naderi | Stars: Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri, Musa Torkizadeh
Votes: 2,339
8. The Cyclist (1989)
82 min | Drama
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit... See full summary »
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Mahshid Afsharzadeh, Firouz Kiani, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mohammad Reza Maleki
Votes: 2,340
9. Close-Up (1990)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah
Votes: 23,026 | Gross: $0.00M
10. A Moment of Innocence (1996)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy, Drama
A semi-autobiographical account of Makmahlbaf's experience as a teenager when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Mirhadi Tayebi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Ali Bakhsi, Ammar Tafti Dehghan
Votes: 4,403 | Gross: $0.04M
11. The Apple (1998)
86 min | Drama
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
Director: Samira Makhmalbaf | Stars: Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi, Azizeh Mohamadi
Votes: 2,745 | Gross: $0.12M
12. The Color of Paradise (1999)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Family
The story of Mohammed, a blind Iranian boy and his father, Hashem, who is always oscillating between accepting his son as he is and abandoning him, as he represents a burden for him, after the loss of his wife.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari
Votes: 18,201 | Gross: $1.81M
13. The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
74 min | Comedy, Drama
A film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can ... See full summary »
Director: Marzieh Makhmalbaf | Stars: Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh, Ameneh Passand
Votes: 1,991 | Gross: $0.34M
14. Ten (2002)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Mania Akbari, Amina Maher, Kamran Adl, Roya Akbari
Votes: 8,608 | Gross: $0.11M
15. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,761 | Gross: $0.26M
16. Certified Copy (2010)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Romance
In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson
Votes: 26,904 | Gross: $1.34M
17. Through the Olive Trees (1994)
G | 103 min | Drama
A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992).
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai
Votes: 10,001 | Gross: $0.04M
18. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Behzad Dorani, Noghre Asadi, Roushan Karam Elmi, Bahman Ghobadi
Votes: 12,324 | Gross: $0.21M
19. Utopia (1983)
198 min | Drama
A treatise on love and desire tainted by harsh reality of capitalism, in which submission to the laws of lust-as-commerce is played out by five prostitutes and their pimp, who pits them ... See full summary »
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Manfred Zapatka, Imke Barnstedt, Gundula Petrovska, Gabriele Fischer
Votes: 351
20. Far from Home (1975)
91 min | Drama
This drama explores the grim lives of Turkish "guest workers" living in Germany.
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Parviz Sayyad, Cihan Anasai, Muhammet Temizkan, Hüsamettin Kaya
Votes: 215
21. Yek Etefagh sadeh (1973)
80 min | Drama
A small schoolboy lives an austere life with his family in Northern coasts of Iran.
Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless | Stars: Hedayatollah Navid, Hibibollah Safarian, Ane Mohammad Tarikhi, Mohammed Zamani
Votes: 664
22. Death of Yazdgerd (1982)
110 min | Drama, History
Death of Yazdgerd is the story of death of the last king of Iran before Muslims invade Iran. He escapes to city of Marv and hides in a mill but finally gets killed. The Story is told by the... See full summary »
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Susan Taslimi, Mehdi Hashemi, Mahmoud Behrouzian, Amin Tarokh
Votes: 1,234
23. Downpour (1972)
128 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A well educated and humble teacher arrives in a new city and at a new job in the pre-revolutionary Iran. He falls in love with a hardworking underprivileged young woman that nurses her very... See full summary »
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Parviz Fanizadeh, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Jamshid Layegh, Parvaneh Massoumi
Votes: 981
24. Tranquility in the Presence of Others (1972)
86 min | Drama
A former army colonel comes from a village to live in the city with her daughters where he finds it hard to adapt with the modern life.
Director: Nasser Taghvai | Stars: Akbar Meshkin, Soraya Ghasemi, Leila Baharan, Ali Naraghi
Votes: 451
25. The Deer (1974)
120 min | Drama
The Deer is a typical Kimiai-style tale of friendship and honour. When a good man fallen on hard times meets his erstwhile protégé, fate puts their relationship to the ultimate test: will you die for me?
Director: Masud Kimiai | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Faramarz Gharibian, Nosrat Partovi, Parviz Fanizadeh
Votes: 2,950
26. Harmonica (1974)
75 min | Drama, Family
Set on the sun-drenched southern coast of Iran, "Harmonica" begins as a young boy receives a musical present from abroad. Fascinated and envious, his friends make him the leader of the pack... See full summary »
Director: Amir Naderi | Stars: Masoud Gudarzi, Mehdi Javadi, Shahla Darvishi, Yaghoob Moradzadeh
Votes: 467
27. My Uncle Napoleon (1976)
770 min | Comedy, Drama
An uproarious adaptation of a popular novel of the same name by Iraj Pezeshkzad. set in around the family compound in early 1940s Tehran. Shows characters that are marvelously rich in ... See full summary »
Stars: Gholamhossein Naghshineh, Parviz Fanizadeh, Parviz Sayyad, Saeed Kangarani
Votes: 1,586
28. The Raven (1977)
120 min | Drama, History, Mystery
When Mr. Esalat is looking for a topic for his TV show, he notices an advertisement in the newspaper about a missing girl. The picture of the missing girl is very familiar to him and he ... See full summary »
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Parvaneh Massoumi, Hossein Parvaresh, Anik Shefrazian, Manuchehr Farid
Votes: 338
29. Desiderium (1978)
111 min | Drama, Romance
Desiderium lyrically charts the hapless loves of three brothers: Majid, the young handicapped brother with a deformed head who falls in love with Aghdas, a prostitute hired by his eldest ... See full summary »
Director: Ali Hatami | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Fakhri Khorvash, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Votes: 2,145
30. Mr. Gullible (1970)
106 min | Comedy, Drama
A man from village goes to city, to find a job and marry a wife. But encounters with a lot of troubles he did not expect.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Ali Nasirian, Ezzatolah Entezami, Fakhri Khorvash, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz
Votes: 563
31. Dash Akol (1971)
99 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Dash Akol is greatly respected in Shiraz as an honorable man who has lost his family's money through helping his friends. He has an enemy, however, named Kaka Rostam, a mean and spiteful ... See full summary »
Director: Masud Kimiai | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Bahman Mofid, Mary Apick, Kan'an Kiani
Votes: 1,385
32. Case #1, Case #2 (1979)
53 min | Documentary, Drama
While the teacher is faced towards the blackboard, one of the students makes some funny noises. The teacher can't find the person who did that, so he decides to dismiss a group of students ... See full summary »
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Mehdi Azadbakht, Mohammadreza Barati, Hedayat Matin Daftari, Nader Ebrahimi
Votes: 787
33. Hamoun (1990)
Not Rated | 120 min | Drama
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.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Khosro Shakibai, Ezzatolah Entezami, Hossein Sarshar, Bita Farahi
Votes: 7,246
34. Caravans (1978)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History
In 1948, at the U.S. embassy in Zadestan, a young diplomat is ordered to find the missing daughter of an influential U.S. Senator.
Director: James Fargo | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Michael Sarrazin, Christopher Lee, Jennifer O'Neill
Votes: 1,151 | Gross: $1.00M
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