Atieh’s passion is food, and her small but popular restaurant on the sleepy Caspian coast is her pride and joy. When Aziz, her former fiancé, appears after a twenty-year absence, the women believe he has intentions of closing the restaurant and prepare his favorite dishes, one after the other, in a desperate effort to convince him otherwise. Loosely based on the Persian fable of Scheherazade and the Thousand Myths (A Thousand and One Nights), director Ali Raffi uses the language of food to paint a richly textured portrait of life and love on the northern coast of Iran.
Ali Raffi was born in Isfahan, Iran in 1938. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Sociology, and B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Dramatic Arts from the Sorbonne University. He also holds a Higher Diploma in Film and Stage Direction from the International Theater University in France, and a Diploma of Acting from Charles Dulain in France. He was the head of the City Theater in Tehran from 1975 to 1978, the dean of the Dramatic College from 1977 to 1980, and currently teaches at Tehran University. He has staged numerous theater productions, and has experience as a performer in multiple films and TV programs. The Fish Fall In Love is his first feature film.
The Fish Fall in Love (Mahiha Ashegh Mishavand)
Directed by Ali Raffi
CAST Aziz Reza Kianian Atieh Roya Nonahali Touka Golshifteh Farahani Goli Maryam Saadat Gohar Maedeh Tahmasbi Reza Mehdi Pakdel Akbar Sina Razani
CREDITS Director Ali Raffi Writer Ali Raffi Producer Hassan Kalami Cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari Editor Varuzh Karim Masihi Sound Sasan Nakhaie and Mohsen Roshan
The Fish Fall in Love is currently playing in theaters. Check our calendar for details!
Did you know...
• Iran (formerly known as Persia), is credited with inventing the brick, windmill, bagpipes, staples, wine and (drum roll)... taxes.
• The first universal declaration of human rights, inscribed on the Cyrus Cylinder, was discovered in Persia and predates the Magna Carta by a thousand years.
• In Iran, it is legal for Shia Muslims to enter into temporary marriages that last only a few hours.
• In 2005, Ayatollah Mohamed Yazdi attempted to make it illegal to walk a dog in Iran.
“For a newcomer as me, transferring all stage sensitivities and images onto the silver screen was something like a bet; a bet with no one but myself on the fact that Ali Raffi as a stage director should be forgotten behind the camera and every idea must pass the filters of cinema. All the members of cast and crew, who lived with me during all stages of production of The Fish Fall in Love, supported me on this bet…
-Ali Raffi, director of The Fish Fall in Love, on the difficulties of making his first film
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