Synopsis

Takes place in a remote village on the fringe of the sunbaked central desert of Iran.

At the tiny school, the communal jar is broken and the children are thirsty, suffering from a lack of water. No one in authority seems to care or understand and the teacher's efforts are futile.

Finally, a simple woman in the town sees a way to solve the children's problem and manages to get a new water jar.




Cast: Behzad Khodaveisi, Fatemeh Azrah, Abbas Khavaninzadeh, Hassein Balai, Alireza Haji-Ghasemi, Sakineh Mehrizi, Ramazan Moila-Abbasi, A.R. Vaziri, Shamsoddin Olfat

Produced by: Ali Reza Zarrin
Music by: Mohammad Reza Aligholi     
Cinematography by: Iraj Safavi     
Editing by: Changiz Sayad

"The seeming simplicity of writer/director Ebrahim Forouzesh's style fits the story perfectly but belies the sophistication of technique involved. The actors are primarily real village folk - a method used to great effect by many Iranian directors. The film is touching and suspenseful in a very real way, and opens a window to a part of the world rarely seen" (Dimitri Eipides, 1994 Toronto International Film Festival).

"All the actors - in this case non-actors - were quite unfamiliar with cinema and the children had seen only one film in a nearby town. However, I like working with children - they are wonderful actors, even though they are not aware of the fact!" (Ebrahim Forouzesh)

Winner of several prizes in international film festivals, including first prize in 1994 Locarno film festival. (SalamCinema.com)