From Iranian director Majid Majidi (CHILDREN OF HEAVEN), BARAN is the story of Lateef, a 17-year-old boy who lives in Teheran and works in the kitchen on a construction site. Hotheaded and always ready for a fight, Lateef resents his boss Memar for holding his wages to send to his father at the end of the year. When Rahmat, a young Afghan boy, replaces Lateef, Lateef's new job is lugging heavy bags of cement up the stairs. Hungry for revenge, Lateef sets out to make Rahmat's life miserable. One day, while spying on Rahmat, Lateef realizes that the boy is actually a girl hiding her gender so she can work to support her family. Lateef falls in love and decides to help her with what little money he has. In the process, he blossoms and changes from a sullen teenager into a generous young man.

BARAN is a wonderfully romantic tale about sacrifice and devotion. But underneath this simplistic fable is a political film about 1.5 million Afghani refugees suffering in Iran, and Majidi shows a remarkable talent in making BARAN seem like a romantic love story. BARAN belongs with the best Neorealist films as an example of filmmaking that stares boldly at the pertinacity of the human spirit.

Theatrical release: May 3, 2002 (NY/LA)

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus

Distributor Notes: Baran

Winner for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival, this wonderfully romantic and uplifting story is from the acclaimed director of the Academy Award(R) nominee CHILDREN OF HEAVEN (Best Foreign Language Film, 1999). In a Tehran building site, a 17-year-old Iranian named Lateef is known more for his playful antics than his hard work. Then things take an unexpected turn when an Afghan coworker falls from the building and the worker's son, Rahmat, enters the scene to become the new provider for his family. But even as Lateef finds himself irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, it's not until the revelation of Rahmat's secret (that he is actually a young woman, posing as a man) that both of their lives are forever changed! A humorous and moving love story of the most romantic kind -- critics everywhere have declared this delightfully entertaining motion picture as one not to be missed!

Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

Hossein Abedini: Actor, BARAN (2001)
Zahra Bahrami: Actor, BARAN (2001)
Mohammad Amir Naji: Iranian Actor
Hossein Mahjoub: Actor
Hossein Rahimi: Actor, BARAN (2001)

Majid Majidi: Iranian Director

Majid Majidi: Iranian Director
Fouad Nahas: Actor, BARAN (2001)

Majid Majidi: Iranian Director

Ahmad Pezhman: Composer, BARAN

Hassan Hassandust: Editor

"...A sweet story of unconsummated love....Majidi's direction has never been smoother or more confident..."
"...Iranian director Majid Majidi remains a consummate visual poet..."
"...[A] delicate, melancholy story..."
"...The lovely clarity of this story, which seems to have been drawn from the literature of an earlier age, is well served by the artful subtlety of the telling..."
"...Beautiful, thoughtful, romantic..."