Visions of Iran #12

June 12 to 15, 2025 – Filmforum NRW/Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

For the twelfth time, Visions of Iran invites you to discover contemporary Iranian cinema – courageous, poetic, political. We show new films, rediscovered classics and perspectives that are otherwise rarely heard. The focus is on the consequences of the Women, Life, Freedom movement, the lives of minorities and the voices of a young generation pushing for change.

The festival opens with The Old Bachelor, a dark family story that symbolizes a patriarchal system. Other feature films such as Café or Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others show reserved heroes who break free through encounters. In In the Land of Brothers tells an impressive story of the lives of Afghan refugees in Iran.

We follow intimate family conflicts (Impasse), an ornithological biography of a woman between East and West (A Mother of Snow Cranes) and a treasure hunt against economic hopelessness (A Band of Dreamers and a Judge). With Tehran, an Unfinished History, the city itself becomes a stage for cultural change, while Bahram Beyzaie’s restored classic The Stranger and the Fog shows an early example of female strength.

Plus: short films by Iranian women, film talks with guests from Tehran, Paris and the diaspora.

Festival Trailer

Programme

Feature film, Thursday, 12.6.2025, 19.00 hrs

The Old Bachelor

The economic crisis paralyzes all impulses and prevents the half-brothers Ali and Reza from breaking out of the regiment of their despotic father Gholam, who spends his nights with drug friends.

Documentary, Friday, 13.6.2025, 18.00 hrs

A Band of Dreamers and a Judge

A bunch of likeable good-for-nothings in their forties decide to go on a treasure hunt in the midst of economic misery.

Feature film, Friday, 13.6.2025, 20.00 hrs

Me, Maryam, the children and 26 others

Filming in her apartment turns the life of Mahboube, who lives in seclusion, completely upside down: for a week, she is confronted with people in her courtyard, her kitchen and her bedroom.

Documentary, Saturday 14.6.2025, 16.00 hrs

Impasse

During the nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, Rahmaneh gets into heated arguments with her devout family.

And Next Year, When Spring
Short films, Saturday, 14.6.2025, 18.00 hrs

Short films

Curator and filmmaker Ghasideh Golmakani once again presents a colorful collection of current short films – fresh insights into different regions, social milieus and narrative styles.

Documentary, Saturday, 14.6.2025, 20.00 hrs

Tehran, an unfinished history

Saeed Nouri has sifted through 800 Iranian films from the National Archive, selected 150 of them and condensed them into a 100-minute film about the history of Tehran.

Feature film, Sunday, 15.6.2025, 13.30 hrs

The Stranger and the Fog

In a remote coastal village, the inhabitants discover a mysterious boat in which a wounded stranger named Ayat has washed ashore.

Documentary, Sunday, 15.6.2025, 16.30 hrs

Mother Of Snow Cranes (Kurkien äiti)

Ellen Vuosalo’s life story takes her via Finland and the USA to Iran. After freeing herself from the dependency of her abusive husband, she moves to Tehran to get her children back.

Documentary, Sunday, 15.6.2025, 18.00 hrs

Café

Sohrab’s wife Mahgol wants to emigrate, his father is getting on his nerves, his job as an editor is getting on his nerves and the authorities want him to become an informant to shorten his impending sentence.

Feature film, Sunday, 15.6.2025, 20.30 hrs

In the Land of Brothers

Over the course of twenty years, three loosely connected episodes tell of the fate of Afghan immigrants in Iran. In 2001, Mohamed has to do menial labor and falls in love with Leila.

Documentary, Monday, 16.6.2025, 18.00 hrs

Women According to Men

The lives of Iranian women before the Islamic Revolution were determined by two contradictory factors: the traditional patriarchy and the Shah’s modernization policy.