Synopsis

Rhino Season depicts the life of an Iranian-Kurdish poet who, after the 1979 Revolution in Iran, is incarcerated for 30 years and, upon his release, goes looking for his lost wife and life.


Iranian cinematographer Touraj Aslani has won the best cinematography award at the 60th San Sebastian Film Festival for his work in Rhino Season.


Bahman Ghobadi has dedicated the film to the memory of Saneh Jaleh, an Iranian-Kurdish student who was killed in the February 14, 2011 demonstrations in Iran, as well as Farzad Kamangar, an Iranian-Kurdish teacher who was executed that year for alleged political activities.



Acclaimed Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses) directs Monica Bellucci and Iranian superstar Behrouz Vossoughi in this haunting, dreamlike love story that spans three decades.

After thirty years spent in prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel finally walks free. Now the one thing keeping him alive is the thought of finding his wife Mina, who thinks he is long dead and has since moved to Turkey. Sahel sets out on an Istanbul-bound search. –TIFF



Cast: Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Caner Cindoruk, Belçim Bilgin, Arash Labaf, Ali Pourtash

A haunting love story that spans three decades, Rhino Season is based on the tragic story of a Kurdish poet and family friend of Ghobadi's who was unjustly incarcerated during Iran's Islamic Revolution.



The victim of a personal vendetta, Sahel (Behrouz Vossoughi) is thrown into prison along with his devoted wife Mina (Monica Bellucci). Inexplicably released after serving a ten-year sentence, Mina is informed by the authorities that Sahel is dead.



Heartbroken, she and her two children leave Iran for Istanbul — unknowingly leaving behind her very-much-alive husband, who is forced to stay in prison for another twenty years.



Finally released, Sahel sets out to find his wife, the memory of whom was the only thing that had sustained him throughout his agonizing ordeal. But after clinging to an intangible vision for so many years, what is the reality that awaits him now?



Acclaimed Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses) directs Monica Bellucci and Iranian superstar Behrouz Vossoughi in this haunting, dreamlike love story that spans three decades.

Programmer's Note

Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi has been hailed as the cinematic keeper of his people’s traditions since his Caméra d’Or–winning debut A Time for Drunken Horses, the first ever feature film made in Kurdish, a language that has been banned in Iranian schools since the 1940s.

A self-proclaimed documentary filmmaker who happens to infuse his films with generous amounts of fiction, Ghobadi has now firmly embraced his fictional leanings with his new film Rhino Season. Once again, Ghobadi derives his story from real-life events, but this time he explores a more visual side of his talent, creating a unique atmosphere that melds past and present as if in a waking dream.

A haunting love story that spans three decades, Rhino Season is based on the tragic story of a Kurdish poet and family friend of Ghobadi’s who was unjustly incarcerated during Iran’s Islamic Revolution. The victim of a personal vendetta, Sahel (Iranian superstar Behrouz Vossoughi) is thrown into prison along with his devoted wife Mina (Italian star Monica Bellucci).

Inexplicably released after serving a ten-year sentence, Mina is informed by the authorities that Sahel is dead. Heartbroken, she and her two children leave Iran for Istanbul — unknowingly leaving behind her very-much-alive husband, who is forced to stay in prison for another twenty years. Finally released, Sahel sets out to find his wife and children, the memory of whom was the only thing that had sustained him throughout his agonizing ordeal. But after clinging to an intangible vision for so many years, what is the reality that awaits him now?

Sumptuously shot, wrapped in gilded shades of brown and velvety midnight blue, Rhino Season makes several exquisite departures from reality as Sahel’s recitations of his forbidden verse elicit a string of gorgeous images, the power of his art superseding his grim, desperate plight. His first feature to be shot outside Iran, Rhino Season shows Ghobadi exercising his imaginative powers to their fullest extent, yielding a rapturous cinematic experience that will linger in your memory for a long time to come. -- Dimitri Eipides, TIFF

*****

Iranian cinematographer Touraj Aslani has won the best cinematography award at the 60th San Sebastian Film Festival for his work in Rhino Season.

Rhino Season depicts the life of an Iranian-Kurdish poet who, after the 1979 Revolution in Iran, is incarcerated for 30 years and, upon his release, goes looking for his lost wife and life. Bahman Ghobadi has dedicated the film to the memory of Saneh Jaleh, an Iranian-Kurdish student who was killed in the February 14, 2011 demonstrations in Iran, as well as Farzad Kamangar, an Iranian-Kurdish teacher who was executed that year for alleged political activities.

The cast of the film includes veteran Iranian actor Behrouz Vossoughi and Italian actress Monica Bellucci.

Parviz, Majid Barzegar’s second feature film, has also been met with favourable reviews at the San Sebastian Film Festival and won Special Mention in the Kutxa-New Directors Award for its direction, lead performance and storyline.

Parviz, an independent Iranian production, tells the story of Parviz, a man in his fifties who, after living in his father’s home his entire life, has to leave it once his father decides to remarry. The upheaval in his life unleashes forceful and violent reactions in the usually mild-natured Parviz, as his father realizes he cannot cast him out so easily. -- radiozamaneh.com