Baran

Colour, 35mm
Iran, 2001, 94 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

Lateef, a young Iranian, works on a huge building site in Teheran. He makes tea for the other workers, among them illegal Afghan refugees. One of them breaks his leg in an accident. He is desperate: without an income his family is in danger of starvation. The foreman agrees to take on his young son Rahmat in his stead. But the boy is not strong enough to take over his father’s work. He is finally given Lateef’s job. Lateef, who hates the Afghans already, begins to despise Rahmat: because of him he has to work much harder. But then he gets to know a very different side to Rahmat… He finds out that Rahmat is actually a girl named Baran. The two young people do not exchange a single word during the whole film, yet this is one of the strongest love stories ever made.

About the director

Majid Majidi (1959, Teheran) acted for years in theatre and film. He made his directing debut Baduk in 1995. His Children of Heaven (1997) won the award for best film in Montreal and received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. The film set a new box-office record in Iran. Films: Baduk (1992), The Father (Pedar, 1996), Children of Heaven (Bacheda-Ye aseman, 1997), The Colour of Paradise (Rang-e khoda, 1999), Baran (2001).