original title:
Frontier Blues
directed by:
cast:
Abolfazl Karimi, Mahmoud Kalteh, Khajeh Araz Dordi, Behzad Shahrivari, Karima Adebibe, George Hashemzadeh, Hossein Shams
screenplay:
cinematography:
Shahriar Assadi
editing:
Babak Jalali, Kambiz Saffari
set design:
Marjan Golzar
music:
producer:
production:
country:
Italy/UK/Iran
year:
2009
film run:
95'
format:
35mm - colour
aspect ratio:
1.85:1
sound:
Dolby Digital
festivals & awards:
Frontier Blues features 4 intertwined stories all set in Iran’s northern frontier with Turkmenistan, a region that has long been neglected in Iranian cinema, interesting not only for its magnificent, forlorn landscape but also for its multi-ethnic population of Persians, Turkmens and Kazakhs. Alam is a 28 year-old Turkmen man who lives with his father and works on a chicken farm. He is teaching himself English in order to marry a girl called Ana and take her to Baku. Hassan is a 28 year-old Persian man who lives with his uncle. His only companions are his pet donkey and a tape player. Kazem, Hassan’s uncle, owns a clothing store but the clothes he tries to sell never seem to fit anyone. A 55 year-old Turkmen minstrel is the subject of a book of photography by a photographer from Tehran. His wife was kidnapped by a shepherd in a green Mercedes many years ago.