Under the Skin of the City

Colour, 35mm
Iran, 2001, 92 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The film is set just before the general elections and the air is filled with anticipation and anxiety. The heroine of the story is Tuba whose family, like the majority of Iranians, naturally hope for a far more auspicious future. She works in a factory and, in spite of all the problems, she tries to protect her family and home at all costs, one of the last remaining values in her life. Her pregnant daughter is being beaten by her husband, the younger son is trying to make it in politics and the older son dreams of working abroad. He plans to get a work visa and leave for Japan, thus improving the modest family budget. Allured by the possibility of travelling abroad, however, he places his own family in danger and finally gets tangled up in the world of drug-dealing.

About the director

Rakhshan Bani Etemad (b. 1954, Teheran) graduated from the University of Dramatic Arts in 1974 and debuted as a director in documentary film with The Culture of Consumtion (1979), The War Economic Planning (1981) and Who Do You Show These Films To? (1994). She first worked with actors in her role as assistant director on a number of films, and in 1987 made her first feature Off the Limits. Under the Skin of the City is her latest feature; she also made a documentary bearing the same title five years ago. Selected films: Canary Yellow (1988), Foreign Currency (1989), Nargess (1991), The May Lady (1998), Baran and the Native (1999).