22.04. ‐ 27.04.2025
Wo ist das Haus des Freundes?

Where is the friend's house? (Khane-ye doust kodjast?)

Abbas Kiarostami

In 1992, when Pandora belatedly brought Abbas Kiarostami‘s early film from 1987 to the screen, Iranian cinema younger than the Iranian Revolution was still rather unknown to us, unlike today. The eight-year-old boy Ahmed lives in Koker, a small village 200 Kilometres from Tehran. Because eight-year-old Ahmed accidentally takes his friend‘s assignment book, his friend could be punished. Ahmed sets off to the neighbouring village in order to give the book back to his friend. An Odyssey begins. The village is larger than expected, the adults are not of much help, and Ahmed gets lost as though he is in a labyrinth. In the style of Italian cinema, Kiarostami highlights a simple story in clear pictures and with quite palpable social criticism. A classic of the new Iranian cinema.

More information Lichter FilmfestLichter Filmfest

Direction Abbas Kiarostami
Country Iran
Year 1987
Duration 83 min
Language Persian with English subtitles
Production Ali Reza Zarrin
Cast Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Khodabakhsh Defaei
Camera Farhad Saba
Script Abbas Kiarostami
Editing Abbas Kiarostami
Sound Jahangir Mirshekari, Behrouz Moavenian, Asghar Shahverdi
Music Amine Allah Hessine
Sound Design Changiz Sayad, Hassan Zahedi


Bronze Leopard - Locarno International Film Festival 1989

About the director

Abbas Kiarostami was born in 1940 in Theran, Iran as son to a painter and decorator. As director, author and pioneer of Iranian film, he had his international breakthrough in the late 1980s. Among his awards are the Palme d‘Or for his film Taste of Cherry and the Fellini Gold Medal from UNESCO. Kiarostami died in Paris in 2016.



Homage Baumgartner

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