Iranian director Majid Majidi began his cinematic journey in the 1980s, a time when war films, shaped by the Iran-Iraq conflict, dominated Iranian cinema. Yet, from his earliest short films, and later with his first feature “Baduk” (1992) and “The Father” (1996), Majidi revealed a different path—one deeply rooted in social and family stories, marked by humanity and sensitivity.
With “Children of Heaven” (1997), the first Iranian film to reach the final five for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and later “The Color of Paradise” (1999), Majidi moved toward a cinema that can truly be called poetic—a path he continued in “The Willow Tree” (2005).
In both “The Color of Paradise” and “The Willow Tree,” the main characters are blind. In the first, a child, rejected by his family, returns to his hometown and discovers a new understanding of nature through the touch of wheat fields, clear spring waters, and blossoming trees. Through his sense of touch, he experiences and perceives the world differently than we see it. In “The Willow Tree,” a blind man revisits his past, using his tactile perception to navigate memories and emotions.
Through these two characters, Majidi offered a fresh perspective on the world around him, creating works in Iranian cinema that stood apart from those of his contemporaries. While he remained drawn to stories about children and adolescents, he also extended his gentle, poetic vision to films centered on adults.
Another example of this poetic sensibility is “Baran” (2001), set against the backdrop of Afghan refugees living on the outskirts of Tehran. In this film, Majidi explores love and the tension between material life and the spiritual, while sustaining the hallmarks of his poetic cinema—images infused with sunlight, wind, and subtle, expressive movement—once again affirming his devotion to this cinematic language.
The framing and composition Majidi employs in his films reveal a distinct poetry. His use of natural elements—the sky, rivers, rain, birds, pigeons, fish, fog, and wind—reflects his deep connection to nature and a pursuit of authentic beauty. By blending these elements with slow, fluid movements of the camera and actors, he crafts delicate and visually stunning images, making the poetry of his cinema evident in the visual beauty, storytelling, tone, and overall aesthetic of his work.
This poetic sensibility is also powerfully expressed in “Muhammad: The Messenger of God” (2015), where he portrays the Prophet’s childhood with fresh, original imagery and light. In his subsequent films, “Beyond the Clouds” (2017) and “The Sun” (2020), Majidi returns to the themes and concerns of his early filmmaking, depicting the lives of children in disadvantaged communities.
In these films, he continues to employ his signature elements, combining light, color, and music to create strikingly beautiful images even amid hardship—hallmarks of his cinema that have become inseparable from his work.
