No One Knows About Persian Cats () is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi produced by Wild Bunch. The film offers the perspective of Iran as it explores its underground rock scene. It won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot The film follows two young musicians (Ashkan Kooshanejad and Negar) as they form a band and prepare to leave Iran shortly after being released from prison. The pair befriends a man named Nader (Hamed Behdad), an underground music enthusiast and producer who helps them travel around Tehran and its surrounding areas in order to meet other underground musicians possibly interested in forming a band and later leaving the country.
Cast Hamed Behdad Ashkan Kooshanejad Negar Shaghaghi
Bands and musicians Take It Easy Hospital Rana Farhan Hichkas Meysam Eddie The Yellow Dogs Shervin Najafian Ash Koosha Mirza (band) The Free Keys Mahdyar Aghajani Darkoob Hamed Seyed Javadi Nik Aein Band
International cinema release dates 23 December 2009: France 3 February 2010: Belgium 26 March 2010: U.K. Limited release: Curzon Soho and key citiesList of release dates and venues of No One Knows About Persian Cats on Brightwide 16 April 2010: U.S. (New York City only) 16 April 2010: Italy 15 July 2010: IsraelList of upcoming movie releases in Israel, updated regularly by movie publishers and film journalists (Hebrew).
Reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Accolades Its first official screening was at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section. Cannes Film Festival: Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section François Chalais Prize award
Accusations Shortly after the release of the movie, Iranian director Torang Abedian accused Ghobadi of having used many ideas for his movie from her documentary Not an Illusion, made from 2003 to 2008 and released in the same year. According to Abedian, her camera operator got a call from Ghobadi and left her afterwards to make the movie about the same topic with Ghobadi in a few days.http://oe1.orf.at/artikel/245863 - Austrian radio station Ö1
References
External links Underground Musicians Fight The Man In Tehran, NPR movie review by Mark Jenkins, 2010-04-15, accessed 2010-05-07.
In-depth review of the film and its soundtrack Behind the scene of No One Knows About Persian Cats No One Knows About Persian Cats Soundtrack This is music from a brave and extraordinary musical movement, BBC review