Downpour(Ragbar)

Playwright and scholar Bahram Beyzaie became a leading light of the Iranian New Wave with this delightful first feature. Hapless schoolteacher Mr. Hekmati steps into a torrent of torment when he moves into a run-down Tehran district. After kicking a troublemaking kid out of class, the boy’s young adult sister rushes to confront the new arrival. As their closed-door talk quickly fuels gossip, threads of wry comedy, gentle romance and sly allusions to state surveillance are woven together... It's all about power relations. Beyzaie’s often experimental low-budget indie won acclaim on release but fell into obscurity until the World Cinema Project restored it in 2011 from the sole known surviving print. A quirky and affecting shot of neorealism from a pioneer of Iranian cinema.

Restored in 2011 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project and Bahram Beyzaie. Restoration funded by Doha Film Institute.

Tehran International Film Festival: Special Jury Prize

17/8 (Sun): Film talk with Mimi Wong