Welcome To

Iranian Film Festival - San Francisco

Iranian Film Festival (IFF), the first independent Iranian film festival outside of Iran, with no affiliation to any political or religious organizations, launched in 2008, is an annual event showcasing independent feature and short films made by or about Iranians from around the world©. IFF is also a platform for the Iranian filmmakers living around the globe to express their vision and talent through the artistic medium of film. Iranian Film Festival (IFF) was established to support the Iranian film and culture in the Iranian-American community of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Start Date

September 19, 2020, 12:00 am

End Date

September 25, 2020, 12:00 am


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Films At The Festival

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Shorts Program #1

Shorts Program #1

access_time Viewing Times September 21, 2020, 3:00 pm CEST

Culture(s): Asian

Genre(s): Action , Crime

Online Live Screenings

It is about a firing squad soldier who is forced to kill a prisoner in the prison yard, but he does not know which to choose in the dilemma of ethics and duty.

Duration: 01:24:47 mins

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Multi-Screening: Goli Jan + Pendulum

Multi-Screening: Goli Jan + Pendulum

access_time Viewing Times September 23, 2020, 9:00 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

Saeed and Leili are informed that their spouses are in a coma after an accident. The day after, they come to know that Nasrin (Saeed’s Fiancé) and Kourosh (Leili’s husband) were in the same car when the accident happened. The doubts about the reason for the two people accompanying each other, start troubling the minds of Leili and Saeed. Saeed and Leili get closer and consequently attached to one another as they wait for Nasrin and Kourosh to come to. However, after Kourosh’s death, Leili does not agree to fill Nasrin’s place in Saeed’s life.  She rejects his proposal and encourages him to forget the past and keep living with Nasrin.

Duration: 01:43:29 mins

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Multi-Screening: Shorts Program #1: Mandatory + Sahara Flow + Dad + Sadaf + The Boat No. 5 + American Bull + Dog Fight + The Rotation + The Factory, The List + Knock Knock + Fifth Narcissus

Multi-Screening: Shorts Program #1: Mandatory + Sahara Flow + Dad + Sadaf + The Boat No. 5 + American Bull + Dog Fight + The Rotation + The Factory, The List + Knock Knock + Fifth Narcissus

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 12:00 pm PST

Culture(s): Asian

Genre(s): Action , Crime

Online Live Screenings

It is about a firing squad soldier who is forced to kill a prisoner in the prison yard, but he does not know which to choose in the dilemma of ethics and duty.

Duration: 01:31:35 mins

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Shorts Program #2

Shorts Program #2

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 2:00 pm PST

Genre(s): Animation , Drama , Faith

Online Live Screenings

Time is like a swamp that gobbles up life, but we are destined to go beyond limits. Yet this struggle only immerses us more.

Duration: 01:36:02 mins

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Multi-Screening: The Last Shah + The Unseeable Seeable + Poozhgan

Multi-Screening: The Last Shah + The Unseeable Seeable + Poozhgan

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 3:15 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

This is a documentary about the life and work of Shahram Nazeri a prominent icon of Kurdish and Persian classical Sufi music. He was the first vocalist to set Rumi’s poetry to Persian music thirty-five years ago, thus establishing a tradition of Sufi music within both Persian classical music and his music was instrumental in introducing Western musical audiences to both Sufism and to the poetry of Rumi.

Duration: 01:51:17 mins

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Multi-Screening: Scenes from A Separation + Asho

Multi-Screening: Scenes from A Separation + Asho

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 4:00 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

A documentary about the process of making the Oscar-winner film, A Separation. From the development until the post-production, Farhadi himself talk this process through. Mike Leigh, Jean-Claud Carrier and Ebrahim Golestan also talk about Asghar Farhadi’s filmmaking method.

Duration: 01:46:14 mins

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Multi-Screening: Ocean Behind the Window + Gelak

Multi-Screening: Ocean Behind the Window + Gelak

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 4:15 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

In a small and remote island, people live under hardship. Borhan is an adolescent who has made an interesting decision to help his family and to introduce the island. He collects a group, holds a carnival, and performs traditional music and theatre for tourists. Their life in the island boost and more tourists come. But there is a big problem in their way.

Duration: 03:03:18 mins

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Mutli-Screening: Of Kings & Paintings + The Bridge of Victory + Sharp As Stone

Mutli-Screening: Of Kings & Paintings + The Bridge of Victory + Sharp As Stone

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 5:15 pm PST

Genre(s): Action , Animation

Online Live Screenings

A history of the extraordinary art that was commissioned during the Qajar Dynasty (1785 – 1925). In interviews with experts, the film will explore this remarkable era in Iranian history that straddled the transition between tradition and modernity. While offering an overview of painters and paintings of Qajar era and its continued legacy, the film weaves together art history and Persian history.

Duration: 01:55:44 mins

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Multi-Screening: One Night in Tehran + Homeless + Pendant

Multi-Screening: One Night in Tehran + Homeless + Pendant

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 6:00 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

New York, Tokyo, and Mumbai all have their own nightlife. And so does Tehran; a nocturnal underground world unlike any other. A girl looking for her happiness within the chaos of this swallowing world gets into a night cab, unaware of how her life is going to change forever.

Duration: 01:38:03 mins

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Multi-Screening: Women According To Men + Grandma &; Cinema + The Feast of the Goat

Multi-Screening: Women According To Men + Grandma &; Cinema + The Feast of the Goat

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 6:30 pm PST

Genre(s): Drama

Online Live Screenings

This well-researched documentary, with over 120 clips from archival films shot almost exclusively by male filmmakers, portrays the domestic and social position of Iranian women from 1932 to the 1979 revolution. The patriarchal family, love and deception, unwanted pregnancies and abortions, arranged marriages and polygamy form the background to the movie’s central themes of education, emancipation, and the salvation of Iranian women, torn between tradition and modernity.

Duration: 01:45:22 mins

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Multi-Screening: Labyrinth + The World's Last House

Multi-Screening: Labyrinth + The World's Last House

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 7:15 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

Negar and Amirali are going to immigrate, but at the very last moment, they face a critical situation: their son, Bardiya, goes missing. Now it is time to unfold all the family secrets…

Duration: 01:38:20 mins

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Multi-Screening: We Are All Together + The Sixth Unit

Multi-Screening: We Are All Together + The Sixth Unit

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 7:30 pm PST
Online Live Screenings

After some unsuccessful attempts to save a bankrupt airline, the owner needs to gather some suicidal individuals to go according to her new plan. But due to an incident, everything turns out completely different.

Duration: 01:51:11 mins

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Multi-Screening: Highlight, Booseh [Kiss]

Multi-Screening: Highlight, Booseh [Kiss]

access_time Viewing Times September 25, 2020, 8:00 pm PST

Genre(s): Drama

Online Live Screenings

Saeed and Leili are informed that their spouses are in a coma after an accident. The day after, they come to know that Nasrin (Saeed’s Fiancé) and Kourosh (Leili’s husband) were in the same car when the accident happened. The doubts about the reason for the two people accompanying each other, start troubling the minds of Leili and Saeed. Saeed and Leili get closer and consequently attached to one another as they wait for Nasrin and Kourosh to come to. However, after Kourosh’s death, Leili does not agree to fill Nasrin’s place in Saeed’s life.  She rejects his proposal and encourages him to forget the past and keep living with Nasrin.

Duration: 01:24:13 mins

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