The White Balloon

Director: Jafar Panahi

1995 / 85min / 35mm

Panahi’s mentor Abbas Kiarostami scripted this, his warm, utterly endearing feature debut and Cannes festival Camera d’Or winner, whose title tributes Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon. It’s Persian New Year, and seven-year-old Razieh begs her mother for money to buy a lucky goldfish. This simple task proves less easy than it would seem, however, as Razieh repeatedly loses her funds and finds misadventures, her wandering the streets of Tehran seen in real time, where even minor incidents take on major import from the perspective of a beguiled, curious child.

Distributor: Janus Films