The White Balloon Movie Review 1995

Beautifully told story from the viewpoint of determined seven-year-old Tehranian Razieh (Mohammadkhani), who wants to properly celebrate the Islamic New Year by buying a particularly plump goldfish (a symbol of harmony) from the pet shop. She manages to beg the money from her mother and sets off but, distracted by the street sights, Reziah loses the banknote, which falls into a street grate. Various characters seek to help her out but it's Reziah's resourceful brother Ali (Kafili) who gets a balloon seller to finally retrieve the money. Farsi with subtitles.

Distribution

Hallmark Home Entertainment, 6100 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: (213)634-3000, Fax: (213)549-3760, Remarks: Lainie Handelman, Mktg.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 85 minutes.
Originally from Iranian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Family Ties, Holidays

Screenplay

Abbas Kiarostami

Cast

Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kalifi, Fereshteh Sadr Orfani, Anna Bourkowska, Mohammad Shahani, Mohammad Bahktiari

Cinematography

Farzad Jowdat

Director

Jafar Panahi

Producer

October Films

Awards

N.Y. Film Critics 1996: Foreign Film.