Festival of Films from Iran

 

32nd Annual Festival of Films from of Iran

Houston’s 32nd “Festival of Films from Iran” runs January 24–31, 2025, at the MFAH. Additional screenings take place at Rice Cinema through February 2.

Festival Tickets

  • $10 general admission; $8 MFAH members, students with ID, seniors (65+)

 

Upcoming Events in this Series

  • The Stranger and the Fog Film Poster
    The Stranger and the Fog (Gharibeh Va Meh)

    Iranian New Wave director Bahram Beyzaie's visually ravishing masterwork – banned for decades after the Iranian revolution – is set around the northern coast of Iran, where a boat drifts onto the shore of a small village.

    Friday, January 24, 2025
    7 p.m.
  • The Seed of the Sacred Fig Film Poster
    The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Danaye anjir-e moabad)

    Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof was facing eight years in prison for creating films that criticized the government, before narrowly escaping to live in exile in Europe. Shot entirely in secret, Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran.

    Saturday, January 25, 2025
    7 p.m.
  • 6 AM Film Poster
    6 A.M. (Sa'ate 6 Sobh)

    Sara lives in Tehran and has been accepted by a doctoral program in philosophy at a Canadian university. She has a 6 a.m. flight to catch, but her friends have planned one last party before she leaves Iran. What follows is a tense social drama depicting a group of people celebrating their friend’s success while the guest of honor worries about her early flight the next day.

    Sunday, January 26, 2025
    2 p.m.
  • Universal Language Film Poster
    Universal Language (Une langue universelle)

    Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin and Iranian writers Ila Firouzabadi and Pirouz Nemati won the inaugural Director’s Fortnight Audience Award at Cannes for this absurdist comedy that variously evokes the films of Abbas Kiarostami, Wes Anderson and Guy Maddin.

    Sunday, January 26, 2025
    5 p.m.
  • My Stolen Planet Film Poster
    My Stolen Planet (Sayyareye dozdide shodeye man)

    Using the essayistic style of a diary, director Farahnaz Sharifi traces how the Islamic Revolution changed life for women in Iran. Born in 1979 shortly after the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty, Farah draws on home movies and found 8mm recordings of strangers’ lives to show moments of private joy and public defiance under the regimented oppression in Tehran.

    Friday, January 31, 2025
    7 p.m.

Generous support has been provided by the ILEX Foundation.

Community partners: Society of Iranian-American Women for Education and the Iranian Cultural Foundation-Houston.