The Girl in the Sneakers

Not Iranian children this time, but an Iranian teenager. Opening as a realist family drama, the film develops into a freefloating portrait of a runaway girl's 24 hours in Tehran. Tadaei is strung out because, after walking and talking heart to heart with a boy her age, a policeman intervenes and returns her home. After medical and legal investigations, the family escorts her to school next day, whereupon she really walks. Structurally it's a little vague, but Tadaei's encounters with protective or preying strangers cut a swath through Tehrani society, and suggest what it takes to sap the spirit of a headstrong girl.