Color of Paradise

State Premiere | 2016

Director's Biography
Director's Biography
Tehran born Majidi grew up in a middle class Iranian family. By the time he was 14, he started acting in amateur theatre groups which led him to study at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Teheran. After the Islamic revolution in 1978, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, such as Boycott (1985).

By 1992, Majidi made his debut as a director and screenwriter with the feature Baduk (1992), which was presented at the Quinzaine of Cannes and won several awards nationwide. Since then, he has written and directed several films that have won worldwide recognitions, most notably Children of Heaven (1997) that won the “Best Picture” at Montreal International Film Festival and nominated for best foreign film at the Oscar Academy Awards. The film was soon followed by another success, The Color of Paradise (1999) which also won the Best Picture award at Montreal International Film Festival, and Baran (2001) which won seven major awards at the Teheran International film Festival and the Best Picture award at the 25th Montreal International Film Festival.

Synopsis

Mohammad, a boy at Tehran’s institute for the blind, waits for his dad to pick him up for summer vacation. While waiting, he realizes a baby bird has fallen from its nest: he chases away a cat, finds the bird, climbs a tree, and puts it back. His father finally comes and takes him to their village where his sisters and granny await. The lad is a loving student of nature and longs for village life with his family, but his father is ashamed of him, wanting to farm the boy out to clear the way for marriage to a woman who knows nothing of this son. Over granny’s objections, dad apprentices Mohammad far from home to a blind carpenter. Can anything bring father and son together?

Festivals

  • Boston Society of Film Critics Awards -2000
  • Nominated for Chlotrudis Award for Best cinematography, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, 2001
  • Cinemaila International Film Festival, winner of best actor and Lino Brocka Award, 2000
  • Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, 3rd place Best Foreign film, 2001
  • Montreal World Film Festival, Winner of Grand Prix des Ameriques, 1999

Production Team

Director
Majid Majidi
Country
Iran
Runtime 
90 min
Language
Persian with English Subtitles
Premiere Status 
Classification 
18+
Year
1999
Screenwriter 
Producer
Mehdi Karimi & Ali Ghaem Maghami
Cinematographer 
Editor
Cast
Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani & Salameh Feyzi

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