Niloofar
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Niloofar is an Iranian movie, filmed in 2007 by the Lebanese director Sabine El Gemayel. The movie was releashed in 2008. It won the Best Feature Film award at the 2009 Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles.
The movie focuses poetically on a young girl just entering puberty. This new phase in her life marks her entry into the circle of women, which brings with it new cultural obligations that leave little room for her own personal quest.
Synopsis
Niloofar, a twelve-year-old girl, dreams of being able to read and write. Unfortunately, in her village only boys can go to school. Niloofar's mother, a midwife, pushes her to become her apprentice. During one of the deliveries, Niloofar meets an educated woman. In secret, she starts to teach Niloofar how to read and write.
In the meantime, Niloofar's father has bought a field of palms. The price: Niloofar, as soon as she is a woman. Niloofar is horrified by this and tries to postpone her periods. When her periods finally do arrive, she hides this from the community. But the truth cannot be hidden for long and one day her secret is exposed. Terrified Niloo must obey her fathers word and marry a man who once had his own daughter put to death for loving a boy. This boy was Niloo's uncle, Aziz. Aziz is still so haunted by the memory of the young lover he lost years before he feels compelled to free Niloo from a similar destiny. Aziz devises a plan to help Niloo escape and the two set off together. Niloo's family is furious when they discover her missing and vow to bring her back to face retribution for dishonoring the family. They send her stepbrother out to track Niloofar down and bring her back.
Cast
- Roya Nownahali: Salmah
- Mobina Aynehdar: Niloofar
- Nayereh Farahani: Noor
- Shahab Hosseini: Aziz
- Hengameh Ghaziani: Firoozeh
- Tooraj Faramarzian: Sheik Abbas
- Sadegh Safai: Abdoullah
- Fatemeh Motamed Aria: Banoo
- Alireza Ziaijan: Saeed
- Zahra Davoud Nejad: Ackar
- Saghar Slolaymani: Zeinad
- Zahra Davoudnejad: pregnant woman
- Amir Aghaei
Crew
- Directed by: Sabine El Gemayel
- Produced by: Tahoora Abolghassemi, Dima Al-Joundi, Rachid Bouchareb, Jean Bréhat, Amin Mahdavhi and Fereshteh Taerpoor
- Film editing by: Bahram Dehghani
- Original music by: Fardin Khalatbari
Festivals
- Montréal World Film Festival
- AFI Fest
- Berlin International Film Festival
- Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth
- Cannes Film Festival
- Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival
- Noor Iranian Film Festival - Winner - Best Feature.
External links
Sources
- "Niloofar". Tadrart.
- "Niloofar". IMDB - The Internet Movie Database.