Season Five

Based on an unfilmed screenplay by Bahram Beyzai (a thorn in the side of the Shah's censors during an earlier flowering of Iranian cinema), this is a first feature from an Anglo-Iranian director working out of France. On the day of his intended wedding to Mehrbanou, villager Kamarat deliberately rekindles the ancient feud between their clans, which the marriage was supposed to heal. He goes on to lease a dilapidated bus to provide the first mechanised transport to the nearest town. The jilted bride, implacably set on revenge, pushes her hapless brother into launching a rival service - and the internecine struggle soon starts to threaten lives. The vision of the village as a mullah-free zone tips you the wink that there are elements of social satire in play here, which will inevitably by-pass non-Iranians, but there is plenty to enjoy in the performances and the working out of the underlying morality play.