Find something to watch for every mood. Browse 4,480 of the best films ever made — voted on by the world's critics in the Sight & Sound poll — each with a trailer and up-to-date streaming options. Filter by genre, decade, country, language, runtime, or director, or explore our hand-curated film collections.
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.
The House Is Black (1962)
Forugh Farrokhzad · 35 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness," of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
Where is the Friend's Home? (1987)
Abbas Kiarostami · 28 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.
Taste of Cherry (1997)
Abbas Kiarostami · 21 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.
A Separation (2011)
Asghar Farhadi · 19 critic votes
Streaming on Hulu
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Through the Olive Trees (1994)
Abbas Kiarostami · 11 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
When the actor in a scene for his film Life And Nothing More… has to quit, a film director casts another man for the part. However, complications arise since the man and the woman who was cast for the scene know each other.
Life, and Nothing More... (1992)
Abbas Kiarostami · 9 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.
The Apple (1998)
Samira Makhmalbaf · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two Iranian sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Abbas Kiarostami · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
The Chess Game of the Wind (1976)
Mohammad Reza Aslani · 6 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
The first lady of a noble house has died and now there is conflict between the remainders for taking over her heritage.
Hello Cinema (1995)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 5 critic votes
Makhmalbaf puts an advertisement in the papers calling for an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting and the screen tests of the would-be actors.
A Moment of Innocence (1996)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 5 critic votes
A semi-autobiographical account of an incident in Makhmalbaf's life when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
This Is Not a Film (2011)
Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla
Renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi received a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban from filmmaking and conducting interviews with foreign press due to his open support for the opposition party in Iran's 2009 election. In this film, which was shot secretly by Panahi's close friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and smuggled into France on a USB stick concealed inside a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, Panahi documents his daily life under house arrest as he awaits a decision on his appeal.
The White Balloon (1994)
Jafar Panahi · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Several people try to take advantage of a little girl's innocence to hustle money her mom gave to her to buy a goldfish with.
The Circle (2000)
Jafar Panahi · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Metrograph
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
Still Life (1974)
Sohrab Shahid-Saless · 3 critic votes
A railway crossing guard and his wife live in a routine of total isolation and uneventfulness.
Crimson Gold (2003)
Jafar Panahi · 3 critic votes
Free on Cineverse · Streaming on Fandor, Kanopy, Hoopla
Pizza man Hussein is a daily witnesses to the unjust distribution of wealth in his native Iran. One day, he finds a purse filled with shockingly expensive receipts from an upscale jewelry store. He attempts to bring the purse back to the store, but because of his working-class attire, he's not allowed inside. Then, during a delivery, a rich man invites Hussein into his extravagant mansion – an event that spurs Hussein to make a desperate bid for wealth.
Turtles Can Fly (2004)
Bahman Ghobadi · 3 critic votes
Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.
The Cow (1969)
Dariush Mehrjui · 2 critic votes
An old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.
A Simple Event (1973)
Sohrab Shahid-Saless · 2 critic votes
The story of a ten years old Iranian schoolboy living with his mother and his father in Northern coasts of Iran. The boy helps his father in selling the latter's illegal fishing and helps his mother in shopping for her and bringing home water from a well. The three characters live together in only one room. Their life is austere. The boy eats only bread and milk every day... One day the boy's mother dies.
Utopia (1983)
Sohrab Shahid-Saless · 2 critic votes
A treatise on love and desire tainted by harsh reality of capitalism, in which submission to the laws of lust-as-commerce is played out by five prostitutes and their pimp, who pits them against one another so that they are incapable of standing up to him collectively.
Gabbeh (1996)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 2 critic votes
An elderly couple go about their routine of cleaning their gabbeh, while bickering gently with each other. Magically, a young woman appears, helping the two clean the rug. This young woman belongs to the clan whose history is depicted in the design of the gabbeh, and the rug recounts the story of the courtship of the young woman by a stranger from the clan.
Blackboards (2000)
Samira Makhmalbaf · 2 critic votes
Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?
About Elly (2009)
Asghar Farhadi · 2 critic votes
Free on Cineverse · Streaming on Kanopy, Fandor Amazon Channel, Philo
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Three Faces (2018)
Jafar Panahi · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Kanopy, Kino Film Collection
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi and actor Behnaz Jafari travel to a tiny village after receiving a plea for help from a girl whose family has forbidden her from studying acting. Amusing encounters abound, but they soon discover that the local hospitality is rivaled by the desire to protect old traditions.
The Bread and Alley (1970)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
After returning from an errand to get bread, a young boy encounters a dog that frightens him making the journey to get home more difficult than he could’ve imagined.
The Beehive (1975)
Fereydun Gole · 1 critic vote
Recently have been released from jail, Ebi makes a bet with his Friend that he goes and drinks in seven bars without even paying any money.
The Falconet (1975)
Farrokh Ghaffari · 1 critic vote
During an attack in a caravansary in which all the soldiers die, three people manage to flee. After that they accidentally encounter in different places and help each other out.
All Three, He Said (1979)
Gholamali Erfan · 1 critic vote
A young man is released from prison. Three other prisoners who where his cellmates explain his political and social life in three different ways: The first one defines him as the son of an unknown father and a Polish mother who were taken abroad when his mother has been killed at the time of WWII and then he has returned to Iran as the agent of Zionists arrested while he was spying. The second one defines him as the lover of a Polish woman who is the wife of an embassy employee and is arrested through a report by the husband. The third one tells that he has returned to the country to take his wife's jewelry and is arrested mistakenly.
First Case, Second Case (1979)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A documentary about a teacher who sends a group of pupils out of the classroom when one of them does not own up to talking behind the master's back.
The Cyclist (1987)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 1 critic vote
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?
Homework (1989)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Young male students at a local Iranian school are asked about their feelings on homework.
Water, Wind, Dust (1989)
Amir Naderi · 1 critic vote
A young teenager returns home after an absence to find his village in Iran deserted because of an incredibly severe drought. He begins a search to find his family, traveling through an amazingly bleak and desolate landscape. Primarily an essay on the issue of humans vs. nature, the film is of interest for technical and cultural reasons.
The Mirror (1997)
Jafar Panahi · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
When a young girl's mother doesn't meet her after school, she tries to navigate the streets of Tehran by herself.
Hajji Washington (1998)
Ali Hatami · 1 critic vote
Hajji Hossein-Gholi Noori (Haji Baba) goes to Washington D.C. as the first Iranian (Persian) ambassador to the United States of America. After he opens the embassy, he is unable to invite statesmen to visit him. Haji fires the embassy staff due to the inability of the Persian government to meet the embassy's needs. One night he is visited by President Grover Cleveland.
A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
Bahman Ghobadi · 1 critic vote
After their father dies, a family of five children are forced to survive on their own in a Kurdish village on the border of Iran and Iraq.
The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
Marzieh Meshkini · 1 critic vote
A girl reaches the age of nine and is supposed to act as a grown woman according to her family. A girl participates in a bike race against the will of her husband. An elderly woman decides she wants to buy all the things she always wanted but could never get.
Under the Skin of the City (2001)
Rakhshan Bani-E'temad · 1 critic vote
Tuba works daily at a grueling textile factory in Iran, returning home every night to deal with the rest of her problematic family, which includes: a pregnant daughter whose husband beats her regularly; a teenage son, who's been getting into trouble due to his burgeoning career in radical politics; and an older son who goes to great lengths--such as attempting to sell the family's meager house--in order to get an engineering job in Japan as a means of getting out of Iran.
Five (2003)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Finding himself in a house in the north of Iran by the Caspian Sea, the director picked up his handheld DV camera and began filming the seemingly anodyne events happening on the 500 metres of beach in front of his house—a piece of wood toyed with by the waves, people walking by the sea, indistinct shapes on a wintry beach or noisy ducks.
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (2007)
Hana Makhmalbaf · 1 critic vote
A young girl zealously wants to go to school and learn to read and write. Almost everywhere she is met with hostility or indifference. The only young boy who takes her to his school is thrown out by the teacher, because helping her prevented him from arriving in time. On her way home she and other girls are taken as prisoners by boys playing as Taliban fighters. They tear her school book to pieces and threaten to stone their female captives.
Shirin (2008)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Streaming on MUBI Amazon Channel
A hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and a French star: mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text -- long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East -- remains invisible to the viewer of the film, the whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show.
Poosteh (2009)
Mostafa Aleahmad · 1 critic vote
After 14 years in jail, Saeed is known to be irreproachable and set free.On his way home, he goes in a situation that can put him back on prison once again.
Taxi (2015)
Jafar Panahi · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Kino Film Collection
A yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the director Jafar Panahi himself. His camera placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio captures the spirit of Iranian society through this comedic and dramatic drive…
24 Frames (2017)
Abbas Kiarostami · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minutes films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs. An experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life.
Radiograph of a Family (2020)
Firouzeh Khosrovani · 1 critic vote
"Mother married a photo of Father," says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She's not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran -he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel back to his homeland for the wedding. The event illustrates the abyss that still exists in their marriage: Hossein is a secular progressive and Tayi a devout, traditional Muslim.
There Is No Evil (2020)
Mohammad Rasoulof · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy, Kino Film Collection
Set against the backdrop of Iran's strict and oppressive legal system, this anthology film tells the stories of four men who each face a moral crisis when having to deal with death penalties.
Hit the Road (2021)
Panah Panahi · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Kino Film Collection
A chaotic family is on a road trip across a rugged landscape. In the back seat, Dad has a broken leg, Mom tries to laugh when she's not holding back tears, and the youngest keeps exploding into car karaoke. Only the older brother is quiet.
It Was Just an Accident (2025)
Jafar Panahi · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Hulu, Kanopy
An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor.
