Tinar

Colour, BETA SP
Iran, 2009, 72 min
EP – European premiere
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

A ten-year-old cowherd named Ghasem lives and labors in the foothills of majestic mountains not far from the Iranian city of Babol. His mother is dead, and his father and stepmother sometimes beat him; his older brother preferred to get away. Ghasem works alone most of the year and thus his only companions are the cows which he lovingly tends and sometimes even sings to. In his sensitively constructed and visually sophisticated portrait, Iranian director Mahdi Moniri presents a boy who has been deprived of a carefree childhood. Instead he is forced, under difficult conditions, to take care of himself and the herd of cows entrusted to him. Accompanied by poetic footage and traditional music, young Ghasem acquaints us with the work responsibilities he handles remarkably well and without any trace of pathos. He also tells us his dreams: to learn to read and write, and even more pressing, to escape the life of a lonely cowherd.

About the director

Mahdi Moniri (b. 1975, Babol, Iran), writer, director, and producer, completed university studies in stage direction in 2003. Filmography: Amiri khoonesh (2001), Ameneh khaleh (2003), Karb (2004), Mourning and Mystic Dance (2004), Tinar (2009), Siva (2010).