Sun Children | The Sun | Khorshid (2020)

Synopsis

12-year-old Ali and his three friends do small jobs and petty crimes to survive and support their families. In a timely turn of events, Ali is entrusted to find a hidden underground treasure.

However, in order to gain access to the tunnel where the treasure is buried, Ali and his gang have first to enroll at the near Sun School, a charitable institution that tries to educate street kids and child laborers.



Cast: Rouhollah Zamani, Javad Ezzati, Shamila Shirzad, Ali Nassirian, Abolfazl Shirzad, Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi Fard, Mani Ghafouri, Safar Mohammadi, Ali Ghabeshi, Tannaz Tabatabaei


Sun Children was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, making the shortlist of fifteen films.

Critical response

    Iranian director Majid Majidi has made some of the most visually stunning and emotionally stirring films in world cinema about the plight of under-privileged, exploited and abused young people, and Sun Children (Khorshid) is one of his very best.

— The Hollywood Reporter / Deborah Young

    In “Sun Children,” the plot is considerably more complicated but still quite relatable, as Majidi stays focused on a small group of youngsters whose challenges, while minor, loom large as mountains in their minds.

— Variety / Peter Debruge

    Energetic and heartfelt, tipping towards tragedy, Sun Children crawls through the mud and emerges all the stronger. The quest is a red herring; the real treasure is the film.

— The Guardian / Xan Brooks

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. Metacritic, assigned the film a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Read about this film

Country: Iran
Language: Farsi
Color: Color
Runtime: 99 min.