No One Knows About Persian Cats

Iran 2009, 103 minutes
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
In Farsi with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama, Music

Topics: Indigenous & Minority Cultures, Mock-umentary.

Feat. Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad

Aroview: Unprecedented pseudo-documentary exploring Iran’s forbidden underground music scene, starring Tehranian rockers Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan Koshanejad as persecuted band members attempting to recruit musicians for a yet-to-be-sanctioned gig in London.

Though unremarkable from a filmmaking standpoint, the illegal and clandestine nature of the enterprise – and the subsequent arrests and exile of people involved in the production (echoing fellow Iranian dir. Jafar Panahi's recent imprisonment) – make this a unique and courageous celebration of "decadent Western music" deemed off-limits by the repressive Middle-Eastern society.