Running Among the Clouds

Black and white, DIGIBETA
Iran, 2010, 76 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Another View

Synopsis

High school student Milad Talebi lacks a father’s example and he’s too much for his tired, exasperated mother. Not even his teachers at school provide him with a role model that he can respect, and on top of that they try to impose their authority on the rebellious student through repression and physical force. The young man first tries cigarettes and then drugs, and after that he starts stealing in order to pay for them. He loses contact with his friends at school and despite interacting with a dubious street gang, he falls ever deeper into isolation. But is he really an outsider who lost everything through his own actions? Debut writer-director Amin Farajpour bears witness to the stifling network of relational and social repression which Iran’s autocratic society imposes on a naturally freethinking young man. Reminiscent of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959), this hard-hitting film combines a lively documentary style with a socially critical tone.

About the director

Amin Farajpour (b. 1974, Tabriz, Iran) studied film direction at Tehran’s University of Art. He then got practical training in the field from top Iranian director Masoud Kimiai, for whom he worked as an assistant on two pictures. In 2000-2005 he shot several short movies, and in 2010 he debuted with the feature-length drama Running Among the Clouds, for which he also wrote the script.