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.
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.
