IT'S WINTER aka ZEMESTAN

Year: 2006
UK: Artificial Eye
Cast: Mitra Hadjar, Ali Nicksolat, Saeed Orkani, Hashem Abdi
Director: Rafi Pitts
Country: Iran
Language: Farsi (English subtitles)
UK: 85 mins
UK Certificate: 12A contains one use of strong language
UK Release Date: 15 December 2006 (Limited Release)
UK Distributor

Synopsis

The sublimely beautiful fourth feature IT'S WINTER aka ZEMESTAN by Iranian International award-winning director Rafi Pitts is a cinematic poem to winter. Mohammed Davoodi's photography shot entirely on location in Iran is breathtaking.

A man is fired from his job. Having no more options, he decides to go and find work abroad, leaving behind his wife and daughter. Months pass and his family hear no word from him. A stranger, a mechanic, arrives in town in search of work. His eyes wander to the beautiful young woman whom he hears no longer has a husband.

The world expressed in this most beautiful of films is one of hunger and poverty where immigration is seen as a last hope, however illusory. IT'S WINTER centres on a family that is separated by poverty. It sorrowfully illustrates the struggle to survive of a generation torn between wanting to leave its country yet bound by blood to home.