What will lighten our dark night? An untimely love?!

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s latest film Tales is a collection of stories highlighting the difficulties the lower classes face in today’s society, from unemployed factory workers to poor or drug-addled women or those at risk of domestic violence.

The stories take us all over Tehran, with tales of patriarchal abuse, forced imprisonment and prostitution unfolding in taxis, trains and buses — each marked by fear, but also acts of courage and love.

After three decades of filmmaking the characters of my documentary and feature films are still alive to me and I live with them. “Tales” is returning to the characters of my previous films under today’s circumstances. Even though “Tales” is a complete independent version, but for me and the people who have seen my previous movies, is a review of the people’s fate and social conditions over the past three decades. Rakhshan Banietemad, director

Awards

– Best Screenplay Award: 71st Venice Film Festival (2014)

– Jury Grand Prize: 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2014)

Tales (Ghasseh-ha) (trailer):

Director& Producer: Rakhshan Banietemad

Screenplay: R. Banietemad, Farid Mostafavi

Production Designer: Amir Esbati

Director of Photography: Koohyar Kalari

Sound Recorder: Yadollah Najafi

Sound Mix: Amirhossein Ghassemi

Editor: Sepideh Abdolvahab

Music: Siamak Kalantari

Make-Up Designer: Mehrdad Mirkiani

Production Manager: Nava Rohani

Executive Producer: Kanoon Iran Novin

Cast: Golab Adineh, Saber Abar, Farhad Aslani, Foojan Arefpoor, Bahareh Daneshgar, Mohammadreza Forootan, Shahrokh Forootanian, Babak Hamidian, Mehdi Hashemi, Negar Javaherian, Baran Kosari, Fatemeh Motamedaria, Peiman Moadi, Hassan Majooni, Habib Rezaei, Atefeh Razavi, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Khosro Shahraz, Rima Raminfar

Color, D-Cinema, 16:9, 88 min, 2014, Iran

Sources: Noori Pictures | Feature | “Tales” (Ghesseha), Aquila Style