Persian-language (primarily Iranian) cinema is acclaimed for poetic allegory, moral depth, and inventive ways of navigating censorship. It often uses non-professional actors, minimalism and symbolism to explore moral dilemmas, social issues, and the human condition under political constraints.

Leila Hatami and Payman Maadi in A Separation (2011)

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. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man's identity.

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.

After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.

An investigating judge struggles with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran caused by the death of a young woman. When his gun goes missing, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing harsh measures that fray family ties.

An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.

Homayoun Ershadi in Taste of Cherry (1997)

An absurdist triptych of seemingly unconnected stories finds a mysterious point of intersection in this tale set somewhere between Winnipeg and Tehran.

A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.

An ostrich-rancher, Karim, embarks on a journey to Tehran, a bustling city, to replace his daughter's hearing aid, a pivotal moment in his family's struggle for independence and cultural exchange.

In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.

Banned from making movies by the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver and makes a movie about social challenges in Iran.

Follows a chaotic, tender family that is on a road trip across a rugged landscape and fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others' nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet.

Seventy-year-old Mahin, solitary until now, chooses to revive her love life. A chance encounter becomes an unforgettable evening.

Esmaeel Mehrabi and Lili Farhadpour in My Favourite Cake (2024)

The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.

Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Hossain Farazmand, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Hossain Sabzian in Close-Up (1990)

Eight-year-old Ahmed has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad's notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad's home in the neighbouring village.

Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned.

While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.

Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman (2016)

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.

The autobiographical story of a fearless teacher who secretly gathers seven of her female students to read forbidden Western classics in revolutionary Iran.

Golshifteh Farahani in Reading Lolita in Tehran (2024)

As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home.

Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi in Under the Shadow (2016)

Leila, who has spent her entire life caring for her family, makes a plan as her brothers are struggling to make ends meet.

An engineer named Behzad travels to a rural village in Iran to witness a ritual associated with a woman's death. Meanwhile, the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he spends his time waiting for the event.

A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992).

In a war ridden country a woman watches over the husband reduced to a vegetable state by a bullet in the neck, abandoned by Jihad companions and brothers. One day, the woman decides to say things to him she could never have done before.

Golshifteh Farahani in The Patience Stone (2012)

When a young girl becomes lost in the hustle and bustle of Tehran, her journey turns into a dazzling exercise on the nature of film itself.

The story of Mohammed, a blind Iranian boy and his father, Hashem, who is always oscillating between accepting his son as he is and abandoning him, as he represents a burden for him, after the loss of his wife.

It's been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.

The struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.

An Iranian pizza delivery man sees the worst of corruption and social unbalance in his city and is driven to crime.

Somaieh, the youngest daughter of an indigent family, is getting married and fear is overwhelming each and every member of the family regarding how to overcome their difficulties after she's gone.

Payman Maadi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, and Parinaz Izadyar in Life and a Day (2016)

A director and his son return to a region damaged by the Guilan earthquake, hoping to find the children who appeared in his film a few years earlier.

A Mossad agent embarks on her first mission as a computer hacker in her home town of Tehran.

Follows a notorious Iranian fugitive who outsmarted authorities in a prolonged cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of Tehran.

Naeem, who has endured 15 years in prison for his daughter's love, faces a major crisis after his release to see her.

Shahab Hosseini, Pantea Bahram, Pardis Ahmadieh, and Hadi Hejazifar in The Lion Skin (2022)

Mahboobeh, a noble's daughter in old Tehran, loves a carpenter's apprentice. She defies family and rejects suitors, fighting for their approval to marry Rahim, not knowing fate may have other plans.

Tarlan Parvaneh and Navid Pourfaraj in Drunkard Morning (2025)

Ramin plans a robbery on his childhood classmate Noori who has become a mysterious rich man and that's just a beginning of a brutal journey.

Houman Seyyedi, Saber Abar, Sahar Dolatshahi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, and Fereshteh Hosseini in The Frog (2020)

Kamyar returns to Iran to manage his father and stepmother's company. His risky decision intersects with Shokoh and his daughter Ava's lives as she prepares for marriage.

It is the story of a family on the first of September 1941, which undergoes changes during the occupation of Iran by the Allies.

Mirsaeed Molavian, Negar Javaherian, and Ashkan Khatibi in Once Upon a Time in Iran (2021)

Story of drama, love, and crime among relatives all connected through a huge holding company.

Detective Kiani gets involved in a complicated case which reveals the dark secrets of a family.

Peyman Ghassemkhani, Sadaf Espahbodi, Saber Abar, Sara Bahrami, and Alireza Kamali in Loser (2024)

The story follows Joseph's journey from being sold by his brothers to Egypt, his trials in Potiphar's house, imprisonment, rise to power interpreting dreams, reunion with his family after proving his brothers' remorse.

Katayoun Riahi, Jafar Dehghan, and Mostafa Zamani in Prophet Joseph (2008)

The moral stories of a group of champions (Pahlevanan) living in Kharazm city in 13th century.

Siamak Atlassi, Hamid Reza Ashtianipoor, Ali Hemmat Momivand, and Shahrooz Malek Arayi in The Heroes (2008)

This series is an adaptation of the original story "One Thousand and One Nights", a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. The story unfolds across three different times and locations: present-day Tehran, modern Istanbul, and a mystical, ancient world known as "The Other World," a parallel realm deeply intertwined with the current time. These worlds influence each other in unexpected and mysterious ways. The story begins in Tehran, where a string of disappearances has shaken the city-each case involving women .

In Iran, Tehran, 1953, Shahrzad and Farhad love each other and intend to get married, but the great mafia Bozorg Agha has decided another fate for them.

The story tells of friends who will spare no effort to stay together. A crisis is coming that will change the good days.

Mehrdad Sedighian, Elnaz Habibi, Mojtaba Pirzadeh, and Majid Yousefi in Die Hard (2024)

Family drama revolving around Naghi Ma'mouli, his wife Homa, children Sara and Nika, Alzheimer's-afflicted father Panjali, relatives and friend Rahmat, facing various issues across different seasons.

Every Friday becomes miserable without you.

The disappearance of an old gun draws a police officer into a labyrinth of secrets, lies, and dangerous connections.

The adventures of a movie director who gets involved in a murder case.

Mahoor Nemati and Payman Maadi in Viper of Tehran (2024)

Mukhtar Thaqafi was a Shiite Muslim leader who sets up a rebellion movement in 686 A.D in the town of Kufa to avenge the martyrdom of Hussain (grandson of Islamic Prophet Muhammad).

Set in late 40s in Iran. When a politically exiled man (Ansari) meets strange rural people with weird actions and accents in a village called Barareh.

The unexpected return of a wealthy old man from the dead shatters his family's plans for inheritance, until the arrival of a mysterious new relative throws everything into deeper chaos.

The story of a couple who live outside of Tehran and go their separate ways after divorce.

Parsa Pirouzfar and Hoda Zeinolabedin in At the End of the Night (2024)

A genius AI developer named Aban creates an investment algorithm for financial markets. He must urgently pay a massive debt to his ex-investor to avoid prison.

Ali and Morteza, two talented theater actors who live in an abandoned theater enter complex adventures to achieve their dreams.

Ahmad Mehranfar and Navid Mohammadzadeh in Actor (2023)

People should live in such a way that they are ready to meet death at any moment.

Reza Attaran and Abbas Jamshidifar in A Delayed Death (2025)

The whole story about Imam Ali, the friend and companion of Prophet Muhammad.

In the Qajar era 1852, The king of Persia, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, falls in love with Jeyran, who loves Siavash.

Merila Zare'i, Roya Teymourian, Bahram Radan, Ra'na Azadivar, Amir Jafari, Ghazal Shakeri, Setareh Pesyani, Mahdi Pakdel, Amir Hossein Fathi, and Parinaz Izadyar in Jeyran (2022)

A hilarious satire revolving around a complex family headed by an eccentric patriarch, nicknamed "Dear Uncle Napoleon," who rules over his relatives with an iron fist and constant wisecracks.

Tells the stories of a land with more than 180 characters from a crazy person who knows a lot but acts like wise people to a wise man who acts like a crazy.

This Iranian animated series has short, comedy episodes that tells stories about "Vey" and other characters

Because of him being in strange positions and situations, a man is several times mistaken as other, usually famous people; and now must explain himself to a judge as he has been arrested for impersonation.

Lives of two men and their wives, their employees and employers and their unemployed friend living in their house.

Being transported into the past by drinking a cup of mysterious coffee, a man makes a living by predicting the future for the royal family.

A simple teacher's life changes when he unwittingly gets caught up in embezzlement and fraud, leading to newfound wealth that alters his modest character.

Jaleh Kabiri, the new wife of Kamran Kamarva, whom he has been married to for three years, has been taken to a birthday party and has invited all acquaintances and friends to show off his wealth to others.

Vishka Assayesh and Mehran Modiri in Dracula (2021)

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