Now or Never

A young orphan named Amiro lives alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan. He survives by shining shoes, selling water, and collecting deposit bottles. Although he sometimes finds himself at odds with both adults and competing older kids, he finds solace in dreams about departing cargo ships and airplanes—and by running.

Shuji is an uncompromising young filmmaker at odds with Japanese society. One day he learns that his loan shark brother, who had helped to finance his films, has been executed by his own yakuza gang for failing to repay his debts.

Set on the southern coast of Iran, "Harmonica" begins as a young boy receives a musical present from abroad. Fascinated and envious, his friends make him the leader of the pack, as they compete for the privilege of holding the harmonica or even blowing a few notes, until the games and horseplay begin to take on a sinister edge.

The story of George Murphy, a laid-off newspaperman who has 24 hours to come up with the back rent he owes or be put out in the street. Desperately, he sets out to find an old friend who might help, yet when he discovers that his old friend has seemingly disappeared, George's search begins to take on a whole different meaning.

REQUIEM begins as Nasrollah, just released from prison, returns home to discover that his mother has died while he was incarcerated. Nasrollah hits the streets looking for work, but finding none he resumes his previous life as a street peddler. Casting his lot with two other peddlers, with whom he becomes roommates, for a while Nasrollah seems to achieve once again a sense of community and belonging.

A dialogue-free film that follows a boy in southern Iran whose daily chore is bringing an elegant glass bowl to get filled with ice, and then returning home.

After his family is evicted from their home, proud and desperate construction worker Dennis Nash tries to win his home back by striking a deal with the devil and working for Rick Carver, the corrupt real estate broker who evicted him.

The hard daily life of a kid working in a photo shop while trying to get closer to the girl he likes.

Many years ago, in a nearly deserted town at the foot of a mountain, lives Agostino with his wife Nina and his son Giovanni. The mountain rises up like a wall blocking out the sun that never reaches their fields below, now reduced to just stones and underbrush. Agostino, even though everything suggests him to leave, decides that the destiny of his family is there, among the peaks. He is not only driven by stubbornness, but by the certainty that our roots cannot betray us and that with the help of our spirit we can bring the sun on every destiny.

After getting involved in a brawl with three brothers, Ali accidently kills one of them and runs for his life.

A young teenager returns home after an absence to find his village in Iran deserted because of an incredibly severe drought. He begins a search to find his family, traveling through an amazingly bleak and desolate landscape. Primarily an essay on the issue of humans vs. nature, the film is of interest for technical and cultural reasons.

Inspired by Iranian folk tales and reputed as the first Iranian musical movie, the film follows the story of the lazybones congenitally bald Hassan who is tricked out of the house by his mother. Then he learns about Chelgis, a girl kidnapped and kept by an ogre in his enchanted garden. Smitten by her beauty, Hassan tries to find a way to save her. In a public bathroom, he encounters his doppelganger. The doppelganger promises to fulfill his wishes in return for a fraction of his life. But when fulfilled, his wishes do not emerge the same he envisioned…

This film, based on a well-known novel of the same name by Sadegh Chooback, is about a wronged man seeking revenge. Director Amir Naderi's inspiration for making the film was one of his childhood heroes, the legendary Zar Mohammad, who waged a one-man war against four swindlers and provoked wide spread popular sentiment against tyranny.

A woman continuously solves crossword puzzles everywhere she goes; in subway trains, on buses, and on the streets of New York City.

In an oppressive future, a 'fireman' whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.