Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast

AKA, Anxiety (1976) is the story of an ex-con who's trying to make up for lost time with his wife and child, only for this new life of peace to be threatened by a racket of deceit and blackmail. We also discuss the phenomenon of the "Film Farsi" genre in more detail with special guest, Sina Dolati of Rangarang!

Directed by Samuel Khachikian

An Iranian couple living in the US become trapped inside a hotel when insidious events force them to face the secrets that have come between them, in a night that never ends.

Directed by Kourosh Ahari

Investigating reports of demonic possessions in a remote village, a skeptical military officer finds his beliefs tested by an enigmatic exorcist.

Directed by Arsalan Amiri

This film is available to watch on YouTube

Banned from making movies by the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver and makes a movie about social challenges in Iran.

Written and Directed by Jafar Panahi

This film is available to view on Hoopla, or rent/own from Apple TV

A government tax auditor’s failing marriage unravels as his moral compromises at work mirror the growing alienation and mistrust in his home.

Written and Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

This film is available to view on the Criterion Channel

In the wake of the Iranian Revolution, a prosperous Jewish family abandons everything before they are consumed by the passions of revolutionaries.

Directed by Wayne Blair

This film is available digitally in the USA from Fandango and in Canada through Plex and PlutoTV free with ads.

The honour Shahin and Shakoor, two brothers leading a powerful gang in the underbelly of Tehran, is brought into question when a video of their sister leaks, threatening to unravel not just their gang but their own family.

Written and Directed by Houman Seyyedi

This film is available to view on YouTube

In an attempt to raise money for his sick wife's medical care, an Afghan refugee partakes in a grueling exhibition where he must bike, non-stop for seven days and seven nights - battling hunger, exhaustion and enemies who stand to gain from his loss.

Written and Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

This film is available to view on YouTube.

Law of Tehran aka Just 6.5 aka Metri Shish o Neem tells the story of Samad (Payman Maadi) a narcotics detective in pursuit of a shadow drug kingpin Naser Khakzad (Navid Mohammadzadeh). One day a raid leads to capturing a low level dealer who leads to a bigger fish, who is somehow connected to the notorious drug lord. This film is available on Youtube. 

A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.

Written & Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud

Two inept and unlucky blind men attempt a jewelry store robbery, setting off a chain of absurd, interwoven misadventures in a dryly comic tale about chance, failure, and the invisible threads between people.

Written & Directed by Shahram Mokri

After days of observing a mysterious man loitering outside her home, a young woman attempts to win this stranger's heart.

Written and Directed by Parviz Sayyad

While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.

Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi.

After Hashem finds an abandoned baby in the backseat of his taxi, he and his girlfriend, Taji, must decide the fate of this child.

Written and Directed by Ebrahim Golestan

A hypnotically stylized murder mystery awash in period atmosphere, unfolds inside a candlelit mansion, where a web of greed, violence, and betrayal ensnares potential heirs as they vie for control of their matriarch’s estate.

Directed by Mohammad Reza Aslani

Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

Directed by Ben Affleck

This film is available on Prime Video and Crave

A recently jailed petty thief disguises as a Mullah and succeeds in escaping; but has to stay in the Mullah' role longer than he expected.

Directed by Kamal Tabrizi

Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph. D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.

Written and Directed by Dariush Mehrjui.

Samad and the other villagers attend school so that they can learn to read, when a gang of drug smugglers infiltrate their class resulting in a hilarious slapstick confrontation between the villagers and the gangsters.

This movie is available on YouTube. Directed by Parviz Sayyad.