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Panah Panahi is the son and collaborator of Iranian director Jafar Panahi [Taxi Tehran], who was released on bail in February after being jailed since July 2022. Panah makes a striking feature debut with this charming, sharp-witted, and deeply moving comic drama.
In July 2022, Jafar Panahi [director of Taxi Tehran which we showed in 2016] went to the Tehran prosecutor’s office to inquire about the arrest of a filmmaker detained in the government’s crackdown on protests. Panahi himself was arrested and, on a decade-old charge, sentenced to six years in jail.
From Variety on 3 February 2023: “Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been released from Tehran’s Evin prison, his wife Tahereh Saeidi has announced in an Instagram post. The director was released on Friday two days after announcing he was going on a hunger strike to protest still being incarcerated after Iran’s supreme court last October had overturned a six-year sentence issued against the director in 2010 for “propaganda against the system.”
We fervently hope for Jafar’s continued freedom and, in the meantime, we are pleased to present this wonderful film by his son and collaborator.
Hit the Road takes the tradition of the Iranian road-trip movie and adds unexpected twists and turns. It follows a family of four — two middle-aged parents and their sons, one a taciturn adult, the other an ebullient six-year-old — as they drive across the Iranian countryside. Over the course of the trip, they bond over memories of the past, grapple with fears of the unknown, and fuss over their sick dog. Unspoken tensions arise and the film builds emotional momentum as it slowly reveals the furtive purpose for their journey. The result is a humanist drama that offers an authentic, raw, and deeply sincere observation of an Iranian family preparing to part with one of their own.
An almost flawless Iranian comic drama…what really makes Hit the Road fly is the fizzy interplay between the superb core actors. – Irish Times
It’s that blend of heartbreak and joy, profundity and absurdity that is the key to this enchanting movie’s magical spell. – Observer
Panahi is the son of the imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s greatest living artists. He has his father’s subtle touch for interpersonal dynamics and for light tales that build to surprising hidden depths. – The Atlantic
Ellen McCabe’s short Irish film, LONE WOLF [15 minutes], will be shown before the feature.
- Hit the Road [Jadde Khaki]
- Iran 2021| Language: Persian | 94 minutes | Cert: 12A
- Director: Panah Panahi
- Cast: Phassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar
- Foreign language films are subtitled. Cert: CLUB for over 18s
- Tickets €8.50/€7 concession
- Cork Cine Club is absorbing cost of booking fees.
- Book online: https://bit.ly/HitTheRoad-Iran
- Pay at the door by card or cash. Exact change appreciated.