White Balloon, The

(85 mins) A young girl's desire for a pretty goldfish her family cannot afford sparks an adventure in this wonderfully charming film, which won the Camera d'Or (best first film) at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. With the shops about to close for the New Year holiday in Tehran, seven-year-old Razieh pleads with her mother to buy a big goldfish she has seen at the pet store. Razieh's brother Ali persuades their mother to give in and, with the family's last bank note in hand, Razieh gleefully sets out to buy her fish. But along the way, she meets up with snake charmers, a balloon salesman and a dry cleaner and loses her money. With the help of her brother, Razieh desperately tries to retrieve her money, buy the fish and get home before her parents find out what's happened. Co-winner of the International Critics' Prize at Cannes, White Balloon was acclaimed by audiences and critics at film festivals worldwide.

In Farsi with English subtitles.