2023/24 MSP Iranian Film Fest

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Note new dates: The 2023 MSP Iranian Film Showcase has been postponed, and will be presented in partnership with the MSP Film Society, January 12-14 2024 at The Main Cinema - 115 SE Main St, Minneapolis. More details coming soon!

film: THE PERSIAN VERSION

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Coming from two countries at odds with each other, Iranian-American Leila (Layla Mohammadi) strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her. When her family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, Leila navigates her relationships at arm’s length […]

Film: A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Part art-heist, part family drama, part political thriller. In this hybrid political thriller and verité portrait documentary, Sara Nodjoumi, working with co-director and husband, Till Schauder, makes her directorial debut with this personal film, diving into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of more than 100 "treasonous" paintings by her father, seminal Iranian modern artist Nickzad Nodjoumi.

OPPONENT (MOTSTÅNDAREN)

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Official Selection for Sweden - Best International Feature Film, 96th Academy Awards In the aftermath of a devastating rumor, Iman and his family have been forced to flee Iran. As refugees, they end up in a run-down hotel in northern Sweden. Despite feeling powerless, Iman tries to maintain his role as the family patriarch. To […]

Film: THE STRANGER AND THE FOG (GHARIBEH VA MEH)

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Another holy grail of Cinema-ye Motafavet (Iranian New Wave) has been found and brought back to life. Impossible to see for decades, Bahram Beyzaie’s dazzling Gharibeh va meh, about a mysterious stranger arriving at a coastal village in a drifting boat and falling for a woman, is now fully restored from original camera and sound negatives. […]

Film: BELOVED (DELBAND)

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

Life as a herder is hard and solitary, but 82-year-old Iranian Firouzeh loves the ever-changing nature, the hard life and her faithful cows. She hikes across the rugged landscape, hauls bundles of wood and still nimbly climbs trees. Beloved follows this strong-minded woman as she toils in all seasons and tells the story of her life, with […]

Voices Unveiled: A Nowruz Concert and Community Gathering

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts 345 Washington St., St. Paul, MN

Voices Unveiled is an innovative music ensemble established in November 2022 by Ehsan Matoori, a virtuoso santoor player and accomplished composer. Collaborating with two extraordinary Iranian female vocalists, Maliheh Moradi and Mina Deris, who recently relocated to the United States from Iran, the ensemble brings a unique blend of talent and cultural richness to the […]

MSPIFF Film Festival: In the Land of Brothers

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

This film will be shown again on Thursday, April 18 at 2:30 p.m. Almost 5 million Afghan refugees live in Iran, and most of them are in the fraught position of being suddenly deported back to a dangerous existence. Filmmakers Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi follow three separate tales that superbly illustrate this little-known plight […]

MSP International Film Festival: Terrestrial Voices

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

This film will be repeated again on Thursday, April 25 at 11:50 a.m. Inspired by ghazal, a style of Persian poetry, Terrestrial Verses collects interviews with people from Iran as they navigate the perplexing bureaucracy that penetrates everyday life. From birth to death, these citizens try desperately, often with humor, to endure.Directors Ali Asgari and […]

MSP International Film Festival: Critical Zone

The Main Cinema 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis

This film will be shown again on Saturday, April 20 at 9:35 p.m. Amir drives through Tehran at night, dealing drugs and talking to the users, prostitutes, pimps, people in pain and other troubled souls. With his dog, he contemplates his loneliness and his, and his country’s, future. Amir faces the monotony of work like […]