Kiarostami: Short Films

Nan va Koutcheh

"The mother of all my films," according to Abbas Kiarostami, begins as a breezily observed anecdote about a boy weaving through Tehran alleys with a loaf of bread. When he encounters a barking dog, the boy must find a way to continue his journey home safely in a poetic work that ultimately illuminates our individual experiences.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1970 | Iran | 10 mins

Zang-e Tafrih

Disciplined at school for breaking a window, a boy joins throngs of his schoolmates as they make a cacophonous exit into Tehran’s streets. This moody short shows Kiarostami expanding his visual vocabulary as the camera follows the young boy wreaking havoc at school and on the streets.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1972 | Iran | 11 mins

Man ham mitounam

Kiarostami’s collaboration with animator Nafiseh Riah was his first film made for children, rather than about them. This playful short features the filmmakers’ real-life sons as two schoolboys watching animated views of animals’ actions — kangaroos jumping, fish swimming, etc. – and imitating them to a sprightly soundtrack.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1975 | Iran | 4 mins

Dow Rahehal Baraye yek Massaleh

In this moral tale, seen by some as a precursor to Where is the friend’s house?, a young boy ponders whether to seek revenge on his classmate, or work together to find a solution. The film is shot mostly in close-ups, with a narrator drolly chronicling the action.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1975 | Iran | 5 mins

Bozorgdasht-e mo'Allem

Kiarostami’s homage to teachers, an assignment from the Ministry of Education, balances contrasting views from starry-eyed officials and over-worked frontline teachers.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1977 | Iran | 20 mins

Rah Hal-e Yek

Against a backdrop of sublime scenery, a stranded motorist triumphantly rolls his mended tyre down a mountain with Kiarostami playfully scoring the action with music reminiscent of a western. This short was a departure for Kiarostami’s work with The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young (Kanoon) – it was filmed outside Tehran during the Revolution and features no children.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1978 | Iran | 11 mins

Be Tartib ya Bedoun-e Tartib

The "most exemplary of Kiarostami’s shorts" (MUBI), Orderly or Disorderly begins with the snap of a clapboard and draws attention to the constructed nature of both filmmaking and the social order. A series of near-identical shots follow – like students descending a staircase or Tehran’s chaotic traffic – but in two competing modes that reflect discipline and anarchy, reinforcing the filmmaker and society’s attempt to organise the disorder.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1981 | Iran | 15 mins

Hamsarayan

Kiarostami uses contrasting sound to mimic the experiences of an old man strolling through noisy city streets while tinkering with his hearing aid. When he arrives home and removes the aid, his granddaughter recruits her schoolfriends to get his attention from outside. A meditation on the contrasts of silence and sound, age and youth, solitude and solidarity.

Abbas Kiarostami | 1982 | Iran | 17 mins