Through the Olive Trees

Through the Olive Trees
File:Through the olive trees.jpg Film Poster
Directed by	Abbas Kiarostami
Written by	Abbas Kiarostami
Produced by	Abbas Kiarostami
Starring	Hossein Rezai Farhad Kheradmand Mohamad Ali Keshavarz
Cinematography	Farhad Saba Hossein Djafarian
Edited by	Abbas Kiarostami
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	February 10, 1995 (US)
Running time	103 min.
Language	Persian

Through the Olive Trees (Zire darakhatan zeyton) is a 1994 film directed and written by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, set in earthquake-ravaged Northern Iran.

It is the final part of Kiarostami's Earthquake Trilogy, and the plot revolves around the production of the second episode, Life, and Nothing More..., which itself was a revisitation of the first film, Where Is the Friend's Home?. Like many of Kiarostami's films, it is filmed in a simplistic, naturalistic way, while also being a complex study of the link between art and life, constantly blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.

Hossein Rezai plays a local stonemason turned actor who, outside the film set, makes a marriage proposal to his leading lady, a student recently orphaned after the earthquake. She considers his offer insulting however, as he is poor and illiterate, and refuses to speak to him again. She continues to ignore him even when they are filming, as she seems to have trouble grasping the difference between her role and real life.

The film was well received amongst international cinema critics, especially in France, and was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. In particular, its ambiguous final scene has been widely discussed and celebrated.

Miramax Films had also acquired the United States distribution rights to Through the Olive Trees and the film was given a limited US theatrical release in 1995. However, Miramax Films hasn't released this movie on DVD yet.

External link

• Through the Olive Trees at IMDb