Documentary—Films by Ebrahim Golestan

# Three classics from the golden age of the Iranian documentary movement.

Films by Ebrahim Golestan explore the relationship between earth, people, and the cycle of life in a uniquely poetic manner.
A Fire, part of his ‘industrial documentaries’ (made early in his career whilst working for oil companies) was Golestan’s first major international breakthrough. It depicts the extraordinary effort to extinguish a major oilfield fire, combining dramatic immediacy with a poetic sensibility.

The Hills of Marlik appears to be about the excavation of an archaeological site, but the unearthed objects become a lens through which 3,000 years of Iranian history are seen.

Shirdel’s The Night It Rained follows a newspaper report of a village boy who supposedly saves passengers on a train, an account that is quickly doubted and challenged. In just thirty minutes, Shirdel offers a masterful, incisive portrait of 1960s Iran.

Tickets are selling fast! Reservation link:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2026/event/masterpieces-of-the-iranian-new-wave-documentary-programme

We will have a discussion about the films at Barbican’s cinema bar after the screening.

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