Sanam

Colour, 35mm
Iran, 1999, 88 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

The young boy Issa witnesses the murder of his father. The men who shot him say he was a horse thief. But Issa and his young mother Sanam know that he simply loved horses too much. After the funeral Issa and his mother leave the village and go to live with the boy’s aunt, Zahra. While Sanam tries to bring her husband’s murderers to justice, Issa, who thinks no-one understands him, tries to discover the truth about his father. He doesn’t want to be the son of a horse thief, nor does he wish to become a shepherd, which is his mother’s plan. Like his father, he loves horses more than anything in the world. Sanam, frightened that Issa may end up like his father, tries in vain to keep him away from them. But it seems there is no way of escaping fate.

About the director

Rafi Pitts (1967, Mashad, Iran) grew up in Teheran in the building of of a film post-production company. As a child he played in a number of films. He studied film and photography in London and shot his first short film In Exile in 1991. After his next short, Salandar (1994), he directed his first feature Season Five in 1997, which received a number of awards. Sanam received the Special Jury Prize in Mannheim-Heidelberg in 2000.