DIRECTOR: Panah Panahi
PRODUCERS: Panah Panahi, Mastaneh Mohajer
SCREENPLAY: Panah Panahi
PHOTOGRAPHY: Amin Jafari
EDITORS: Ashkan Mehri, Amir Etminan
MUSIC: Peyman Yazdanian
WITH: Pantea Panahiha (Mother), Mohammad Hassan Madjooni (Father), Rayan Sarlak (Little Brother), Amin Simiar (Big Brother)


FESTIVALS: Cannes

REVIEW

“Crackling with energy and outbreaks of exuberant lip syncing, riotously funny at times and quietly devastating at others, the phenomenal feature debut from Panah Panahi looks set to be one of the major discoveries of this year’s Cannes.

A road trip in a borrowed car: a father laid up with a leg in plaster, a mother laughing through tears, a young child rattling around the vehicle’s interior like an errant firework. And an adult son who says nothing, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. From these basic ingredients, Panahi crafts a vibrantly humane and utterly relatable portrait of a family at a crossroads…

Panahi demonstrates a complete mastery of tricky tonal shifts: a very funny moment involving a cyclist is followed by a veiled heart to heart between the parents which gives some indication of the gravity of the journey; a breathtaking wide shot, in which the single most important and emotionally wrenching event of the film plays out, is followed by a wondrous moment of fantasy which combines an homage to 2001 with a comic riff about Batman’s bashed-up batmobile.

​Thrillingly inventive, satisfyingly textured and infused with warmth and humanity, this is a triumph.”

– Wendy Ide, Screendaily

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

New Plymouth  
Wednesday, 28 February, 6.00pm

​Nelson 
Wednesday, 06 March, 6.00pm

​Hamilton  
Monday, 18 March, 6.30pm

​Auckland  
Tuesday, 02 April, 6.15pm

​Queenstown 
Tuesday, 30 April, 8.00pm

Palmerston North 
Wednesday, 15 May, 6.00pm

​Whanganui   
Monday, 24 June, 7.00pm

Dunedin  
Wednesday, 24 July, 7.30pm

​Timaru  
Tuesday, 06 August, 6.30pm

​Tauranga  
Wednesday, 30 October, 6.00pm
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​​Westport  
Tuesday, 12 November, time tba

Bigger Picture Ōamaru  
Thursday, 21 November, 7.00pm

Carterton     
Friday, 13 December, 7.00pm
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