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In the port city of Abadan in southern Iran, 11-year-old orphan Amiro (Madjid Niroumand) gazes out into the Persian Gulf, screaming and waving at the distant ships on the horizon. To Amiro, these vessels represent a sense of freedom that he’s never known yet innately yearns for. His yells are a frequent occurrence in Amir Naderi’s The Runner, and they’re a recurring reminder of Amiro’s unwavering desire to be heard and seen, and to connect with something, anything, outside of a society that has effectively discarded him.

Amiro lives in a region of the world where the oil trade has brought prosperity to few. Like many, he lives among the detritus left behind by the industry’s operations and the callous tourists and businessmen whose shoes he shines for pocket change. Spending his days collecting glass bottles that have been carelessly hurled into the sea and...

The Runner released in the Criterion Collection on March 19th, 2024.

The Criterion Collection is my favorite place to explore and discover amazing cinematic releases that may have slipped under my radar. Straw Dogs, Mona Lisa and White Dog are some of my favorite films, all of which I first watched after they received a physical release through Criterion. The Runner has now joined that list.

The Runner Plot

Madjid Niroumand as Amiro in The Runner (1984)

Also Read: Criterion Collection Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons Review

A young Iranian orphan fends for himself, surviving by working odd jobs collecting glass bottles, shining shoes and selling ice water. Despite the harsh conditions he faces, his natural curiosity and imagination never waiver. He harbors a fascination for the airplanes and cargo ships that move in and out of the port city he calls home. While he dreams of escape, he...

Amir Naderi’s 1984 “The Runner” is often lauded as the first movie to emerge from post-revolutionary Iran and for having one of the best child performances of all time with Madjid Niroumand. It’s now receiving a new restoration that will debut at Film Forum on October 28 and run through November 10, with Naderi and Niroumand appearing in person for screenings. It will then make its way around the country. Exclusively on IndieWire, watch the new trailer below.

In “The Runner,” an illiterate 11-year-old orphan (Niroumand), living alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan, survives by shining shoes, selling water, and diving for deposit bottles, while being bullied by both adults and competing older kids. But he finds solace by dreaming about departing cargo ships and airplanes and by running — seemingly to nowhere.

The movie has echoes of Vittorio De Sica’s “Shoeshine” and “The Bicycle Thief,...

The Runner / Davandeh (Iran, 1985)Part of I for Iran: A History of Iranian Cinema by its Creators Retrospective Directed by Amir NaderiFriday, March 13 6:30pm at Tiff Bell Lightbox, Toronto Amir Naderi paints a bleak portrait of life for Iranian orphans in poverty in the semi-autobiographical film shot during the Iran-Iraq War. A young boy named Amiro (Majid Niroumand) lives at the searing hot docks, looking for any kind of work he can get, mostly gathering bottles that have floated ashore, risking shark attack, selling metal or cold water to thirsty passers-by. He lives alone on a wrecked ship […]...