UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema 2026
An In-Person Screening Event
BILLY WILDER THEATER - HAMMER MUSEUM
Los Angeles
Friday, June 5 – Sunday, June 21, 2026
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is honored to present its annual survey of recent and classic films from Iran and the Iranian diaspora. Over three weekends in June, the light of Iranian cinema will once again cut through the darkness to reveal stories of struggle, resilience and hope on-screen. Once again, the courage of Iranian filmmakers will reflect the courage of the Iranian people.
All films from Iran are in Persian with English subtitles, except where noted.
Farhang Foundation is proud to be the sole sponsor of the UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema.
Programmed and notes written by Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm, except where noted.
Friday, June 5 – 7:30pm
Mortician
Canada, 2025
Guest speaker: Director Abdolreza Kahani (via video)
Winner of the audience-voted Sean Connery Prize at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Mortician is set in Canada where a schlubby émigré, Mojtaba (Nima Sadr), performs Islamic ritual washing of the dead as a cultural service of the Iranian government. When he loses his job he wonders how he’ll continue to send money to his family back home until an enigmatic, exiled pop star (Gola), an outspoken opponent of the regime, hires him to help her with one last public protest. The oddest of couples, they find common ground amidst the cold Canadian winter until their secret is exposed in writer-director Abdolreza Kahani’s slow burn thriller.
Director/Screenwriter: Abdolreza Kahani
Cast: Nima Sadr, Gola, Pouya Razavi
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 95 min.
Preceded by
Abraham
Iran, 2024
Farhang Short Film Festival 2nd prize winner
A visually striking story of a small town tragedy, Abraham follows a local policeman who stumbles into a family secret while investigating the murder of a young man whose body is found in a cave outside the city.
Director/Screenwriter: Elnaz Ghaderpour, Reza Gamini
Cast: Hamid Pour Azari, Sajad Afsharian, Safoora Khoshtinat
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles,14 min.
Saturday, June 6 – 7:30pm
Inside Amir
Iran, 2025
After his girlfriend emigrates to Italy with the expectation that he will soon follow, bike messenger Amir (Amirhossein Hosseini) is still neither fully committed to leaving nor fully clear on what the future holds if he stays in Iran. Instead, he spends his in-between days hanging with friends who have themselves settled into a life of drift, playing poker, cooking meals together and biking around the city and country. Nothing ever really happens, which is precisely the point of writer-director Amir Azizi’s warm and loving portrait of a generation that has learned to embrace simple freedoms and pleasures where they can find them in a world where even that can feel like an act of resistance.
Director/Screenwriter: Amir Azizi
Cast: Amirhossein Hosseini, Hadis Nazari, Nader Pourmahin
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 103 min.
Divine Comedy
Iran, 2025
Iranian writer-director Bahram Ark (Skin, Animal) plays Bahram, an Iranian writer-director who has achieved fame on the international festival circuit but has yet to have one of his films screened in Iran. After his latest is again denied a permit, he and his producer Sadaf (Sadaf Asgari) set out on her moped determined to find a way to get it on screen with the help of a hodgepodge of decidedly eccentric characters. Bahram’s situation is all too familiar to co-writer-director Ali Asgari (Terrestrial Verses) and his regular collaborators here, who use romantic comedy tropes to illuminate the absurdities — and dangers — faced by filmmakers in Iran.
Director: Ali Asgari
Screenwriter: Alireza Khatami, Bahram Ark, Bahman Ark, Ali Asgari
Cast: Bahram Ark, Sadaf Asgari, Hossein Soleimani
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 98 min.
Sunday, June 7 – 7:00pm
Between Dreams And Hope
Iran, 2025
A frequent collaborator with filmmaker Ali Asgari, writer-director Farnoosh Samadi centers the inequity and injustices faced by Iranian women in much of her work. In her second feature behind the camera, Samadi expands her frame to include Azad (Fereshteh Hosseini), a trans man, longing to start his life with his lover Nora (Sadaf Asgari), but who must confront his estranged father before he can. Hosseini and Asgar (another Asgari film regular) deliver deeply affecting performances in a story that is by turns tender and harrowing about the power of love over hate.
Director/Screenwriter: Farnoosh Samadi
Cast: Fereshteh Hosseini, Sadaf Asgari, Hooman Rahnemoon
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles,106 min.
The Great Yawn Of History
Iran, 2024
Part adventure story, part mystical allegory, director Aliyar Rasti’s The Great Yawn of History begins with an eccentric job interview. Beitollah (Mohammad Aghebati) drops dollar bills with his contact information around the city, then interviews anyone who calls about their belief system. Answering that he believes in nothing, Shoja (Amirhossein Hosseini) gets the gig: following Beitollah deep into the Iranian desert to find a box of gold coins he saw in a vision. Rasti’s debut feature won the Special Jury Award in the Encounters section of the Berlin International Film Festival for its exploration of faith and greed set against the hardscrabble landscapes of a depopulated rural Iran.
Director/Screenwriter: Aliyar Rasti
Cast: Mohammad Aghebati, Amirhossein Hosseini, Saber Abar
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 93 min.
Preceded by
Son
Iran, 2024
Farhang Short Film Festival Audience Choice Award winner
In a village in remote Iranian Kurdistan, an old mother waits for her son to return from military service. When he doesn’t arrive as expected, she sets out to find him only to discover a truth about his identity that will change their lives forever.
Director/Screenwriter: Saman Hosseinpuor
Cast: Maryam Boubani, Kurosh Ahmadi, Kianoosh Farzin
DCP, color, in Kurdish with English subtitles,15 min.
Friday, June 12 – 7:30pm
Black Rabbit, White Rabbit
Tajikistan/United Arab Emirates, 2025
Tajikistan's submission to the Oscars for Best International Feature Film, Black Rabbit, White Rabbit finds writer-director Shahram Mokri working at the top of his cinematic game. On a film set for the remake of a classic Iranian film, the crew’s armorer worries that a prop gun may not be what it seems and a mysterious young woman arrives to demand an audition. Meanwhile, at a well-appointed villa, a woman recovering from a car accident discovers she may be the target of a murder plot. In Mokri’s inimitable style, long camera takes and elliptical editing blur time and space, visions and reality, history and fiction.
Director: Shahram Mokri
Screenwriter: Shahram Mokri, Nasim Ahmadpour
Cast: Babak Karimi, Hasti Mohammaï, Kibriyo Dilyobova
DCP, color, in Tajik, Persian and Russian with English subtitles, 139 min.
Preceded by
Where The Winds Die
Iran, 2021
Farhang Short Film Festival 3rd prize winner
A Kurdish city in western Iran, Sardasht was the target of a chemical weapons attack in 1987. Director Pejman Alipour captures the moment the city’s peaceful calm was shattered in this powerful, watercolor-style animated short.
Director/Screenwriter: Pejman Alipour
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 13 min.
Saturday, June 13 – 7:30pm
CINEMA-YE AZAD - FREE CINMEA SERIES
How Frightening Is The Darkness Of The Soul! (Cinema-Ye Azad: Nasib Nasibi)
Iran, 1972
In Person: Curators Arta Barzanji, Hadi Alipanah (via video).
Cinema-ye Azad, or Free Cinema, was an underground movement of filmmakers in Iran that began in 1969, with the explicit aim of creating a fully independent cinema opposed to the mainstream “Filmfarsi” in both form and content, methods and ideals. Where the better-known, contemporaneous Iranian New Wave predominantly consisted of foreign-educated, Tehran-based middle-class filmmakers, Cinema-ye Azad consisted of self-taught filmmakers, sharing resources and knowledge with one another to bring the possibility of cultural production to disadvantaged provinces. At its height, Cinema-ye Azad boasted hundreds of active members, a critical magazine and festivals around the country, but the dream was short-lived as the movement ceased activities after the revolution. Its works, however, are being rediscovered thanks to the dedication of curators and archivists in London and Iran. As part of this year's UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema, the Archive is pleased to present two screenings highlighting the films of two key Cinema-ye Azad figures, Nasib Nasibi and Behnam Jafari.
Program curated by Arta Barzanji and Shaghayegh Raoufi with research and archival support from Hadi Alipanah. Film notes written by Arta Barzanji.
How Frightening Is the Darkness of the Soul! is an avant-garde film poem about drowning in a world of madness in search of true liberation. It highlights the close connections between literary and theatrical circles and the filmmaker's approach to avant-garde cinema. Initially, the main character attempts to escape the monotony of daily life by immersing herself in a world of madness. The film is a journey through the path she takes.
Director: Nasib Nasibi
Screenwriter: Nasib Nasibi, Abbas Nalbandian
Cast: Mahvash Bargi, Farhad Majd Abadi, Shokooh Najm Abadi
DCP, B/W, in Persian with English subtitles, 60 min.
Preceded by
From Isfahan To Abarkooh
Iran, 1970
A report on historical buildings, legends and traditions along the route from Isfahan to Shiraz, passing through regions including Mahyar, Shahreza, Ziaratgah, Aminabad, and Izadkhast. The film mixes documentary observation with the poetic vision seen in Nasib Nasibi’s later works.
Director: Nasib Nasibi
Director/Screenwriter: Nasib Nasibi, Abbas Nalbandian
Cast: Bahram Ardabili
DCP, B/W, in Persian with English subtitles, 23 min.
Sunday, June 14 – 3:00pm
CINEMA-YE AZAD - FREE CINMEA SERIES
Mirnasir And The Ill-Fated Genie (Cinema-Ye Azad: Behnam Jafari)
Iran, 1974
Curators Arta Barzanji, Hadi Alipanah (via video).
Cinema-ye Azad, or Free Cinema, was an underground movement of filmmakers in Iran that began in 1969, with the explicit aim of creating a fully independent cinema opposed to the mainstream “Filmfarsi” in both form and content, methods and ideals. Where the better-known, contemporaneous Iranian New Wave predominantly consisted of foreign-educated, Tehran-based middle-class filmmakers, Cinema-ye Azad consisted of self-taught filmmakers, sharing resources and knowledge with one another to bring the possibility of cultural production to disadvantaged provinces. At its height, Cinema-ye Azad boasted hundreds of active members, a critical magazine and festivals around the country, but the dream was short-lived as the movement ceased activities after the revolution. Its works, however, are being rediscovered thanks to the dedication of curators and archivists in London and Iran. As part of this year's UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema, the Archive is pleased to present two screenings highlighting the films of two key Cinema-ye Azad figures, Nasib Nasibi and Behnam Jafari.
Program curated by Arta Barzanji and Shaghayegh Raoufi with research and archival support from Hadi Alipanah. Film notes written by Arta Barzanji.
In his cinematic debut, Saeed Poursamimi plays a former inmate who frees a genie from a bottle. After thousands of years of captivity in the bottle, the genie finds himself in a world that has been completely transformed by its people’s beliefs. The two embark on a bitter journey to find the remnants of the forgotten magical realm. Director Behnam Jafari uses stark visuals and provocative metaphors to explore the impossibility of relying on traditional myths in the face of a new world.
Director/Screenwriter: Behnam Jafari
Cast: Saeed Poursamimi, Hamid Taati, Mohammad Poursattar
DCP, B/W, in Persian with English subtitles, 67 min.
Preceded by
Abandoned Heights
Iran, 1972
Every day, a young man plays his trumpet from the top of a half-finished building while facing the city. Ambiguous happenings around him suggest the outlines of what may lurk below the peaceful surface of society.
Director/Screenwriter: Behnam Jafari
Cast: Nematollah Gorji, Ahmad Amini, Hassan Seifi
DCP, B/W, in Persian with English subtitles, 18 min.
Scream (Vol. 2)
Iran, 1972
This satirical collage of Iranian cinema stages a confrontation between the ethos of the commercial “Filmfarsi” and the artistic ambitions of the New Wave cinema. In a direct reference to Cinema-ye Azad, the film ends with the arrest and exile of young amateur filmmakers from professional cinema.
Director/Screenwriter: Behnam Jafari
Cast: Khosrow Haritash, Said Oveissi, Zari Khoshkam
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 13 min.
Let Us Live
Iran, 1972
This film follows the restless lives of two young pickpockets through the labyrinth of seedy streets and shadowy alleyways, in a world where every day ends in triumph or ruin.
Director/Screenwriter: Behnam Jafari
Cast: Davood Teymouri, Naser Tarighat, Ghazal Irandoust
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 13 min.
Tell The Watchmen Not To Let Sleep Deceive
Iran, 1970
A social portrait of two young lovers that reflects the larger prejudices of society.
Director/Screenwriter: Behnam Jafari
Cast: Farhad pour Azam, Shirin Jannesari, Behrouz Razavi
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 20 min.
Sunday, June 14 – 7:00pm
Tribute to Legendary PARVIZ SAYYAD
Checkpoint
U.S., 1987
In person: Director Parviz Sayyad, Actor Mary Apick.
During the height of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, a busload of Iranian college students returning to the U.S. after a field trip in Canada are thrown into political and legal limbo when they’re refused entry at the border. A ripped-from-the-headlines urgency drives writer-director Parviz Sayyad’s Checkpoint as the students split along factional lines in their struggle to reclaim their rights and dignity. Executive producer Mary Apick also leads a committed ensemble cast that never loses sight of the fragile, individual humanity ever at risk amid grand ideological clashes.
Director/Screenwriter: Parviz Sayyad
Cast: Mary Apick, Houshang Touzie, Parviz Sayyad
35mm, color, in English and Persian with English subtitles, 91 min.
Dead End
Iran, 1977
This provocative film stars Mary Apick as a young woman who is drawn to a mysterious suitor haunting the dead-end street where she lives, only to discover that he is not what he seems and she and her family may be in danger. A giant of Iranian cinema, writer-director Parviz Sayyad rose to fame as the star of the commercial Samad film and television series before producing some of the key works of the Iranian New Wave, including films by Sohrab Shahid Saless, Ebrahim Golestan and Dariush Mehrjui. Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, Dead End plays with themes of voyeurism and surveillance in a society on the verge of radical transformation.
Director: Parviz Sayyad
Screenwriter: Parviz Sayyad, Houshang Baharlou
Cast: Mary Apick, Parviz Bahador, Apick Yousefian
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 95 min.
Saturday, June 20 – 7:30pm
Oh, What Happy Days
Iran/U.S./France/Canada, 2025
Family secrets and betrayals explode in the most riveting video call you’ve ever seen. Writer-director Homayoun Ghanizadeh transforms the familiar stacked boxes of talking heads we all live with these days into a dazzling, high-wire act of storytelling and performance when three generations of an Iranian family are confronted by the son of a former family servant over the fate of the stately family home back in Iran. Ghanizadeh’s riveting, all-star ensemble — Golshifteh Farahani, Payman Maadi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Ali Nasirian, Shirin Neshat — delivers an acting tour de force that deliberately transcends the bounds of the film’s form.
Director/Screenwriter: Homayoun Ghanizadeh
Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Shirin Neshat, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Ali Nasirian, Payman Maadi
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 107 min.
Sunday, June 21 – 7:00pm
Woman And Child
Iran, 2025
After the powerhouse family drama Leila’s Brothers (2023 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema) led to a jail sentence in Iran, writer-director Saeed Roustaee returned to Cannes last year with this more diffuse but still devastating story about a woman seemingly under siege from all sides. Parinaz Izadyar stars as Mahnaz, a nurse and widow with two children, including a rebellious teenage son, looking forward to starting over with new partner Hamid (Payman Maadi) until a sudden tragedy and a shocking betrayal sets Mahnaz on a desperate course of revenge against the school system, the courts and her own family.
Director/Screenwriter: Saeed Roustaee
Cast: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi, Soha Niasti
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 131 min.
Preceded by
The Granny And Fishes
Iran, 2025
Farhang Short Film Festival 1st prize winner
After ill-conceived irrigation projects and drought rendered Lake Hāmūn on the Iran-Afghanistan border a dust bowl, hundreds of villagers migrated away, except for an old woman whose solitary routine of gathering up dead fish is the subject of this quietly compelling documentary.
Director: Maria Mavati, Ehsan Farokhi Fard
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 27 min.
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Event Details
| Event Starts | 06/05/2026 |
| Event Ends | 06/21/2026 |
| Individual Price | Free Event - Registration Required |
| Location | Billy Wilder Theater - Hammer Museum |
