Screened as part of NZIFF 2006

It's Winter 2006

Directed by Rafi Pitts

Smoldering with a sexual energy unprecedented in Iranian cinema, a man drifts across the snowbound flatlands in search of work and whatever love and companionship he can find.

Iran In Farsi with English subtitles
85 minutes 35mm

Director

Screenplay

Rafi Pitts. Based on the story 'Safar' by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi

Photography

Mohammad Davoodi

Editor

Hassan Hassandoost

Music

Hossein Alizadeh
,
Mohammad Reza Shajarian

With

Mitra Hadjar
,
Ali Nicksolat
,
Saeed Orkani
,
Ashem Abdi
,
Zahra Jafari
,
Naser Madahi
,
Safari Ghassemi

Festivals

Fajr, Berlin 2006

Elsewhere

Rafi Pitts, an Iranian who has worked in Britain and France, paints an arrestingly spartan picture of life in an icily beautiful hinterland where men drift from town to town in search of work – and grasp what love and companionship they can find along the way. This is a snowbound Iranian flatland we have not seen before – and a protagonist whose truculent contempt for exploiters and exploited alike smoulders with a sexual energy equally unprecedented in Iranian cinema.

“A striking blend of raw realism and poetic lyricism, charting the determination of a faintly irresponsible young mechanic to win the heart of an attractive young woman whose husband has gone abroad in search of work… At times the film looks as if it’s about to turn into an Iranian village version of The Postman Always Rings Twice but the movie is more concerned with the effects of poverty, unemployment, rootlessness, shame and commitment than with the deadly consequences of sexual desire. It looks a dream, features some quite stunning music, and displays a quiet but bold directorial assurance.” — Geoff Andrew, Time Out