Ataollah Hayati

Javad, whose father is in prison, buys a goldfish for the Persian New Year but his mother orders him to release the fish. Javad doesn't want to lose his fish but finally agrees to do so. His father returns back home...

Young Hamed, arrested for handing out political tracts banned by the Islamic Republic, finds himself in a place of great suffering, in which illiterate and penniless orphans wash floors and sell their own blood. When a disease breaks out in the prison, his life within this harsh environment becomes progressively worse, a near-daily fight for survival.

Contrary to the Westerners who want to prolong their life, for the Orientals and specially the Muslims, death is the beginning of a new life which they embrace. At least once a week, the people of Tehran go the biggest cemetery in their town (Behesht Zahra) to find a "brief peace" with their dead. This documentary, by presenting the culture of death in Iran, depicts how much death and life, laughter and cries; and sadness and happiness can be close. The cemetery is a rendezvous, a picnic place, a play ground and a training place for the soldiers.

A young Iranian boy makes friends with a young girl of the same age against a backdrop of the humdrum daily existence of rural workers.

Centering upon a community of women who have divided themselves from men, 'City Of Women' explores themes of female strength and individual freedom. In an attempt to end the feud between the Keshtgar and Shavan families, Khan Jan decrees that unless the children of the two families marry, the Keshtgars will be forbidden from using the family garden at Ab Ask and the Shavans will retain control of the properties. When the daughter of the Keshtgars, Mahtab, gets accepted into university, she takes it upon herself to fight this ridiculous law and unite the families by other means. Compelling drama from Ataollah Hayati about the complications brought about by the separation of the sexes.