'Between Innocence and Reality': Landmark Iranian Film Season Heading to Hyde Park Picture House
From missing shoes to lost notebooks, a new film retrospective in Leeds explores how Iranian cinema’s greatest directors used the eyes of children to tell extraordinary human stories
A classic pair of missing shoes. A dream of owning a bright red goldfish for the New Year. The frantic urge to return a classmate’s notebook before morning.
On the surface, these sound like deceptively small things.
Yet, some of the most celebrated and enduring masterpieces in Iranian cinema begin right there - anchored in the ordinary desires, worries, and simple preoccupations of children.
Starting this September, local film lovers will have the chance to explore these quiet masterpieces on Hyde Park Picture House’s big screen as part of a newly curated film season coming to the city: Between Innocence and Reality: Iranian Cinema and Childhood.
Curated in collaboration with Dr Maryam Ghorbankarimi, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice at Lancaster University, the season explores how Iranian directors used the unique perspective of young people to bypass post-1979 film censorship and tackle massive social questions around family, class, education, and authority.
While global art-house audiences are familiar with the "poetic realism" of male auteurs like Abbas Kiarostami (Where Is the Friend’s House?) and Amir Naderi (The Runner), this new retrospective places crucial equal focus on pioneering female director Pouran Derakhshandeh.
Working across four decades, Derakhshandeh’s melodramas - such as Little Bird of Happiness - approached childhood through a much more emotional, popular lens, frequently casting non-professional actors with disabilities to confront social taboos, communication, and overlooked lives head-on.
Whether through documentary inquiry, gripping melodrama, or gentle realism, the season highlights a rich cinematic movement where children weren't just characters—they were the lens through which adults understood the world.
Season Lineup & Ticket Details
- The White Balloon (1995) – Sunday, 20 September (Season Opening Screening)
- The Runner (1984)
- Homework (1989)
- Little Bird of Happiness (1987)
- Children of Heaven (1997)
To view the full screening schedule, detailed film guides, and to book tickets, visit the venue box office online.