In solidarity with the demonstrators and protestors we are screening these 7 film shorts as part of our extended Persian Film Fest at FOMO Secret Cinema.
TEHRAN IS THE CAPITAL OF IRAN. 1966. 18 minutes. Director Kamran Shirdel
A sharp observational documentary that maps class division through daily routines. Shirdel contrasts official slogans with street level reality. Bureaucracy, poverty, and spectacle collide. The film exposes how a modern capital markets modernisation and progress while failing its citizens.
QALEH: THE WOMEN’S QUARTER. 1965. 18 minutes. Director Kamran Shirdel
Set in a red light district later demolished, this film records lives pushed out of view. Shirdel avoids judgment and focuses on routine, boredom, and resilience. The result is a calm but devastating portrait of social hypocrisy and state erasure, made just before the area vanished.
WOMEN'S PRISON. 1965. 10 minutes. Director Kamran Shirdel
Companion piece to Qaleh.
BLACK AND WHITE. 1976. 3 minutes. Director Abbas Kiarostami
A minimalist visual exercise built on contrast and motion.
THE CHORUS. 1982. 17 minutes. Director Abbas Kiarostami
A nearly deaf school guard struggles to control noise while missing what matters. Children exploit his limits with mischief and grace. Kiarostami turns sound into theme and structure. The film balances humor with tenderness.
THE BREAD AND ALLEY. 10 minutes. Director Abbas Kiarostami
Kiarostami’s first completed film and one of the foundational works of Iranian New Wave. It follows a young boy trying to walk home with bread while a dog blocks his path. Almost nothing is said. Meaning comes from movement, hesitation, and framing.
THE HOUSE IS BLACK. 1963. 22 minutes. Director Forough Farrokhzad
Shot inside a leper colony, this film blends poetry, scripture, and documentary. Farrokhzad refuses pity. She films faces, labor, and faith with directness and care. Suffering is present but never reduced. The result is radical and foundational to Iranian modern cinema.
These films are by no means political. Rather they show glimpses of what life was like before and after the Islamic Revolution through the eyes of 3masterful filmmakers.
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0102 Tbilisi, Georgia
