Twelve-year-old Ali and his three friends are petty thieves in Teheran’s busy streets. They’re doing this to support their families. When the local mob boss offers Ali to find a hidden treasure, the little bandits will have to enroll at a local school. Sun School is intended for educating street kids and child laborers. The tunnes underneath it lead to the treasure. This latest film by Majid Majidi (Children of Heaven, 1997) is a heist thriller and a sharp criticism of child labor and poverty. Many compare it with Sean Baker’s dreamy Florida Project. The film’s lead actors were child laborers themselves, which adds extraordinary authenticity and emotion to their roles. For his role of Ali, Rouhollah Zamani won Marcello Mastroianni award for Best Actor. 

Majid Majidi (1959) is an Iranian director known for his films about underprivileged, exploited and abused young people. His film Children Of Heaven (1996) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Before getting into directing, he worked as an actor. His debut feature, Baduk (1991), screened at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. He is a triple winner of the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montreal World Film Festival for Children of Heaven, The Colour of Paradise and Baran.

Thursday 29/07 at 18:00, Cinema Bauer