Menu
© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 43 movies from The Documentary and Experimental Film Center
Nov 2019
A young divorcee living with her son in a small northern city of Iran, wants to marry the man she has fallen in love with. According to the current rules, the father has the custody of children; however, her ex-husband has granted her that right on the condition that she doesn’t remarry. Struggling to keep both of her beloved ones, she has to think about the third option: Temporary Marriage (Sighe). However, this will get her into a predicament, as despite its being legal, Sighe is not well-received by the society at all. Would temporary marriage be a good solution for her?
Nov 2015
The daily hardships of a war-scarred Bosnian village, where all that remains are widows and orphans, are painstakingly documented in this first feature from director Aida Begic. Snow offers insight about the psychological aftereffects of the 1992-95 civil war from a distinctively female point of view without showing any of the brutality or carnage.
Oct 2008
Mehrollah is a 14-year-old boy who is forced to find a job to support his family after his father dies. He travels to the southern parts of Iran, looking for work. Upon his return to his hometown, he notices certain changes in his family.
Feb 1999
The film tells the story of a reclusive taxi driver in Tehran in the days leading up to an earthquake. He has chosen to distance himself from society and to be passive so as not to be hurt. Finally one of his passengers gives him enough motivation to act and bring about a change in his life.
Jul 2010
In Turkmen language, Atlan means "mount a horse and depart". Horse is the most important element in the life of Iranian Turkmen. That's why courses are some of the most significant social events in their land, Turkmen Sahara. Turkmen Sahara is a region in north eastern Iran and is homeland to Iranian Turkmen. Ali is a Turkman with his life, like many of his peers', intertwined with courses. Now his wedding depends on his success in courses. This documentary film is about Iranian horses.
Sep 2015
Documentary about Babak Bayat (Persian: بابک بیات)(13 June 1946 – 26 November 2006). Babak Bayat was an Iranian songwriter and film score composer. He was repeatedly nominated for the Crystal Simorgh award in the field of the soundtrack at the Fajr Film Festival and received this award twice in 1991 and 1997.
Aug 2008
Hadith is a member of the high school swimming team and has come to Tehran to attend a national tournament. The night at the dormitory, the team leader called on the disciplinary committee, and it turns out that the hadith movie has been broadcast through Bluetooth when changing clothes in a dressing room, something that will change the fate of this girl forever.
Jul 2007
Younes’s father is arrested when the sugar factory boss accuses him of setting fire to the fields. When 11-year-old Younes, preparing himself for a football trial, finds out that at the night of the accident, his father, as a leading figure in the strikes and the protests, was busy at a meeting with the other workers, talking about their demands, he tries to bring the witnesses to the court. It is the starting point of his journey: a journey of forgetting his love for football and taking the pressure off his family….
Dec 2022
A Documentary about the New Wave movement in Iranian cinema.
Nov 2016
This documentary follows the life of an 80-year-old mother named Firouzeh who is fond of her isolated lifestyle in nature with her cows. The film shows her kind and loving character and demonstrates her bravery and strength tackling the hardship of life in the Alborz mountains without the modern comforts of technology. She believes happiness lies in the simplicities of life.
Nov 2018
Luba is a young Russian woman who, after coming to Iran which coincides with the Iran-Iraq war, her Iranian husband went to the front and she has not heard from her husband for three years.
Jun 2009
An old optician is going to close his optometry shop due to his weak eyesight. But there is still a client who has not referred to receive her spectacles yet.
Jun 2011
Mana is an eight-year-old girl whom Leila has adopted through an old woman because she could not have child. One day, Mana faints at school. Following medical investigations, they find out that she is HIV positive…
In Iran, gender-affirming surgery is legal, though it carries with it great stigma, and is usually performed so that a gay couple may lead a heteronormal life. In this one-of-a-kind film, shot in secret in Iran, a father and husband finds his fragile world endangered when a man from his past appears claiming to be his daughter's true father. He never knew his wife was pregnant when she sought a divorce, and now she's nowhere to be seen.
Aug 2022
A different film about Sohrab Shahidsaless, the late Iranian filmmaker. In this lengthy documentary, video images and unseen shots from Sohrab Shahid Salate have been used.
Jun 2016
A review of the artistic and personal life of Masoud Kimiai and the analysis of five decades of filmmaking.
Mar 2017
The eldest son of the family is dead. After the funeral ceremony, the guests have left the house and the family members are talking to each other.
Apr 2015
This is the story of Tehran from the Qajar time (middle of 19th century) to today. Tehran has become a metropolis from a small village, now a developed city with many social problems.
Jan 2007
Ibrahim and Ilma are siblings who take their flock of sheep to the mountains and during an accident, Ibrahim falls into a pit and Ilma is forced to take care of the flock.
Jan 2023