The White Balloon
Working from a script by his mentor, Abbas Kiarostami (subject of an SFF retrospective in 2021), Panahi transports us to the labyrinthine alleyways of Tehran's poorer south – where, in a few hours, Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrations, will begin. Little Razieh has already put on her festive clothes, but she is sulking. The seven-year-old wants a new goldfish – one that dances, not one of the puny ones from her parents’ pond. Finally given the money by her mother, Razieh runs off eagerly. What seems to be a small quest turns into a documentary-style odyssey, almost incidentally revealing a microcosm of a country rooted in patriarchy, traditional gender concepts, exploitative working conditions and superstition.
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
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Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.
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