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.
20 April 2024
16:00 h, Kino des DFF
More information
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