Cinema
The White Balloon
بادکنک سفید
Jafar Panahi · 1995
Synopsis
In Tehran, an hour and a half before the New Year, Razieh, seven years old, wants a goldfish plumper than the ones in the family pond. Her brother Ali persuades their mother to entrust her with the last banknote in the house, five hundred tomans. On the way to the market, the little girl lingers in front of two snake charmers who seize the banknote; she gets it back, then lets it fall through a grating. A way must now be found to fish it out, with the help, or not, of passers-by.
Context
The author's first feature film, it was written by Abbas Kiarostami, whose assistant he had been, from an idea by Panahi and Parviz Shahbazi, and produced by Ferdos Films with the second channel of Iranian television. It unfolds in almost real time: radio announcements of the countdown punctuate the story, and the opening sequence already shows almost all the characters the child will meet. It was presented at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in May 1995.
Who it is for
A Persian-language film running one hour twenty-five minutes, in colour. It is worth knowing that it is shot at a child's eye level and that the whole stake lies in a small sum of money.
Prizes and reception
Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, the award for best first film: the first major prize won at Cannes by an Iranian film.