Working from a script by his mentor, Abbas Kiarostami (subject of an SFF retrospective in 2021), Panahi transports us to the labyrinthine alleyways of Tehran's poorer south – where, in a few hours, Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrations, will begin. Little Razieh has already put on her festive clothes, but she is sulking. The seven-year-old wants a new goldfish – one that dances, not one of the puny ones from her parents’ pond. Finally given the money by her mother, Razieh runs off eagerly. What seems to be a small quest turns into a documentary-style odyssey, almost incidentally revealing a microcosm of a country rooted in patriarchy, traditional gender concepts, exploitative working conditions and superstition.

Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia