Shows
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast047 - Law of Tehran (Just 6.5)Law of Tehran aka Just 6.5 aka Metri Shish o Neem tells the story of Samad (Payman Maadi) a narcotics detective in pursuit of a shadow drug kingpin Naser Khakzad (Navid Mohammadzadeh). One day a raid leads to capturing a low level dealer who leads to a bigger fish, who is somehow connected to the notorious drug lord.
This film is available on Youtube.
2025-07-171h 16
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast046 - Persepolis (ft. Kaveh Taherian)A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
Written & Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
2025-07-031h 52
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast045 - Ashkan, the Charmed Ring and Other StoriesTwo inept and unlucky blind men attempt a jewelry store robbery, setting off a chain of absurd, interwoven misadventures in a dryly comic tale about chance, failure, and the invisible threads between people.
Written & Directed by Shahram Mokri
2025-06-191h 08
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast044 - Dead EndAfter days of observing a mysterious man loitering outside her home, a young woman attempts to win this stranger's heart.
Written and Directed by Parviz Sayyad
2025-06-051h 09
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast043 - The SalesmanWhile 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.
Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi.
2025-05-221h 13
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast042 - Brick and MirrorAfter Hashem finds an abandoned baby in the backseat of his taxi, he and his girlfriend, Taji, must decide the fate of this child.
Written and Directed by Ebrahim Golestan
2025-05-081h 18
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast041 - Chess of the WindA hypnotically stylized murder mystery awash in period atmosphere, unfolds inside a candlelit mansion, where a web of greed, violence, and betrayal ensnares potential heirs as they vie for control of their matriarch’s estate.
Directed by Mohammad Reza Aslani
2025-04-241h 12
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast040 - Hollywood Hitjobs: Argo (ft. Tehran)Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Directed by Ben Affleck
This film is available on Prime Video and Crave
2025-04-101h 38
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast039 - The LizardA recently jailed petty thief disguises as a Mullah and succeeds in escaping; but has to stay in the Mullah' role longer than he expected.
Directed by Kamal Tabrizi
2025-03-271h 10
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast038 - Hamoun (ft. Mehrtash Mohit)Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph. D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
Written and Directed by Dariush Mehrjui.
2025-03-131h 17
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast037 - Samad Goes to School (ft. Agha Navid)Samad and the other villagers attend school so that they can learn to read, when a gang of drug smugglers infiltrate their class resulting in a hilarious slapstick confrontation between the villagers and the gangsters.
This movie is available on YouTube. Directed by Parviz Sayyad.
2025-02-271h 20
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast036 - My Favourite CakeSeventy-year-old Mahin, solitary until now, chooses to revive her love life. A chance encounter becomes an unforgettable evening.
Directed by Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha
2025-02-1752 min
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast035 - Salam CinemaTo commemorate the 100th anniversary of film, Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf advertises an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting of these would-be actors.
Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. This film is available for rental on Vimeo.
2025-01-311h 04
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast034 - Shorts: Motherland, Empty Your Pockets, Retouch, I Am Trying to Remember (ft. Afra Nariman) + Arian Moayed and Jasmin Mozaffari InterviewsOur first short films special where we dive into films by Pegah Ahangarani, Kaveh Mazaheri, Tara Aghdashloo & Jasmin Mozaffari.
This episode also includes special interviews with Jasmin Mozaffari and Arian Moayed.
2025-01-161h 46
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast033 - The Seed of the Sacred Fig (ft. Noura Alavi)Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures in an attempt to uncover the truth.
Spoilers from 00:33:46 - 01:17:11
2025-01-021h 41
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast032 - Joonam (ft. Jasmin Mozaffari) + Arian Moayed and Sierra Urich InterviewsA young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother's complicated pasts, and her own fractured Iranian identity.
This episode also features interviews with the Director of the film, Sierra Urich, and Executive Producer Arian Moayed.
2024-12-121h 43
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast031 - TenA visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers. A film by Mania Akbari and Abbas Kiarostami.
2024-11-281h 01
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast030 - Hollywood Hitjobs: House of Sand and Fog (ft. Rob Michaels)After losing her house due to a taxing error, reformed addict Kathy Nicolo begins to harass the new owners of the house - Iranian immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani, along with his wife and son.
Based on the novel by Andre Dubus III. Directed by Vadim Perelman
This film is available for digital purchase and rental.
2024-11-141h 24
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast029 - A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (ft. Seena Haddad)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.
Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. This film is available for digital rental and purchase in the U.S, U.K. and Canada.
2024-10-311h 14
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast028 - Under the ShadowOur first Halloween Special! 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. Directed by Babak Anvari.
This movie can be found on Netflix in most territories.
2024-10-1759 min
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast027 - The Stranger and The FogA boat drifts onto the shore of a small village, which the beautiful Rana hopes the has brought back her husband, who disappeared a year ago out on the sea. But the only passenger is Ayat, a wounded stranger with no memory of how he ended up in this land. After gradually proving himself as a member of the community, Ayat grows increasingly paranoid about wraiths from a forgotten past.
Directed by Bahram Beyzaie
2024-10-031h 08
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast026 - DownpourWhen he takes a job as a schoolteacher in a new neighborhood, the hapless intellectual Mr. Hekmati finds that he is a fish out of water.
Directed by Bahram Beyzaie
2024-09-191h 19
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast025 - Baran (ft. Aisha Jamal)In a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Azeri worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both of their lives.
Directed by Majid Majidi.
2024-08-291h 20
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast024 - Leila's BrothersLeila, who has spent her entire life caring for her family, hatches a plan to help her struggling brothers - but she might have to cross her parents to do it.
Directed by Saeed Roustayi. This movie can be found in select local cinemas.
2024-08-151h 07
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast023 - King of the Hearts (ft. Tara Grammy)A blind woman's daughter befriends a famous singer who decides to help them in life, but unbeknownst to either party, is how they're all truly connected...
Directed by Mohamad Ali Fardin. This movie can be found on DVD through Pars Video, and on YouTube.
2024-08-011h 18
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast022 - There Is No EvilThe four stories that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats.
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. This movie can be found on Apple TV in the USA.
2024-07-181h 32
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast021 - OffsideThe struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
This episode also features an interview with Morvarid Sadinejad
Directed by Jafar Panahi. This movie can be found on Apple TV in Canada, as well as Prime and Apple TV in the USA.
2024-07-051h 41
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast020 - Hollywood Hitjobs: Not Without My Daughter (feat. Sima Sepehri)An American woman trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutal husband must find a way for her and her daughter to escape. This film is available to view on Prime Video.
2024-06-201h 30
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast019 - Bashu, The Little Stranger (ft. Rouzbeh Heydari) + Alex Eskandarkhah InterviewAn Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
This episode also features an interview with Alex Eskandarkhah with the Collective for Black Iranians.
Directed by Bahram Beyzaie. This movie can be found on YouTube.
2024-06-061h 52
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast018 - Taste of Cherry (ft. Alex Eskandarkhah)An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he takes his own life. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
This film is available through the Criterion Channel
2024-05-161h 36
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast017 - Hit the RoadFollows 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. Directed by Panah Panahi.
This film is available through Prime Video in Canada, Pramount+, Apple TV+ and Showtime in the USA, and Channel 4 in the UK.
2024-05-021h 24
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast016 - The House is Black (feat. Sadaf Khajeh)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 spirituality and gratitude. Directed by Forough Farrokhzad.
This film is available through the Criterion Channel.
2024-04-181h 28
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast015 - The White Meadows (feat. Afra Nariman)Rahmat has been asked to meet the inhabitants of these islands to collect their tears. Although for years people have been giving their tears to Rahmat, no one knows exactly what he has been doing with them. Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof.
This film is available to view on YouTube.
2024-04-041h 36
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast014 - Samad and The Carpet of the Prophet Solomon (feat. Payam Banifaz)The classic Iranian comedy about a villager named Samad in his first theatrical foray, as he faces off against a team of gangsters who attempt to steal a priceless artifact from his girlfriend, Leila. Written, directed by and starring the illustrious maestro of Iranian cinema, Parviz Sayyad. The movie is available for viewing on YouTube.
2024-03-211h 32
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast013 - Through the Olive TreesA depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992). Directed by Abbas Kiarostami.
This film is available through Criterion
2024-03-101h 26
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast012 - BlackboardsTwo teachers in attempt to recruits wandering Kurdish refugees as their pupils, after the chemical bombing of Halabja by Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. Directed by Samira Makhmalbaf.
2024-02-221h 21
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast011 - The Wind Will Carry Us (feat. Tara Aghdashloo)A journalist named Behzad, travels from Tehran to a rural Kurdish village to covertly cover the vigil for a dying elder.
2024-02-081h 54
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast010 - Hollywood Hitjobs: Prince of Persia (feat. Navid Agha)Based on a best selling video game franchise, young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time. This film is available on Disney+
2024-01-251h 29
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast009 - City of Mice (feat. Dr. Maral Aguilera-Moradipour)Considered by many to be the most famous puppet show for children and all ages. City of Mice (Shahr-e Mooshha) tells the story of a town full of anthropomorphic mice who have to pack their belongings and quickly evacuate their town once news has spread of a wild cat who has arrived and wants to eat them up. The story centres mostly around the students of a shared classroom lead by their loyal teacher. While on their journey, the mice encounter dangerous obstacles and strange allies all while being tracked down by the nefarious cat hot on their tails...2024-01-111h 41
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast008 - Night of the HunchbackBased on a story from One Thousand and One Nights, and set in a popular theatre troupe; the story follows the death of an actor, who is killed by two of his colleagues in an accidental, farcical bout of horseplay, and the brilliantly elaborate gags and misunderstandings that abound in subsequent attempts to dispose of his body in this ensemble comedy.
2023-12-281h 12
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast007 - A SeparationA married couple Nader and Simin 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 hiring a young woman to take care of his father, a difficult situation snowballs and Nader finds himself entangled in a web of lies, manipulation and public confrontations. (Asghar Farhadi, 2011) Available for rent on Amazon Prime and Youtube.
2023-12-141h 27
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast006 - Life, and Nothing More (aka...And Life Goes On)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. (Abbas Kiarostami, 1992) - The film can be watched on the Criterion Channel with subtitles, and on YouTube without subtitles.
2023-11-301h 24
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast005 - Holy Spider (feat. Sadaf Khajeh) + Arash Ashtiani InterviewBased on the true story of Iranian's infamous 'Spider Killer', 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, (Ali Abbasi, 2022). Available for rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, MUBI and streaming on Netflix(US)
2023-11-161h 53
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast004 - The Cow (feat. Mehrtash Mohit)An old villager, Masht Hassan, deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. When he is away, his cow dies. Knowing the relationship between Masht Hassan and his cow, the villagers hastily dispose the corpse, and when Masht Hassan comes back, they tell him that his cow ran away. Masht Hassan is devastated, he starts to spend all his time in the barn, eating hay, and slowly believes that he is the cow. (Dariush Mehrjui, 1969) Available on MUBI and Youtube.
2023-11-021h 38
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast003 - No Bears (feat. Rouzbeh Heydari)Shot in secrecy while Panahi serves a ban on making films imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. No Bears tells two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. (Jafar Panahi, 2022). Available on Criterion Channel.
2023-10-261h 27
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast002 - The DeerThe Deer is a typical Kimiai-style tale of friendship and honour. When a good man fallen on hard times meets his erstwhile protégé, fate puts their relationship to the ultimate test: will you die for me? (Masud Kimiai, 1974)
The Deer can be seen on YouTube - unfortunately no subtitles are provided.
2023-10-121h 32
Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast001 - Where Is The Friend’s House?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. (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987) - The film can be watched on the Criterion Channel with subtitles, or on Youtube without.
2023-09-301h 33