Astonishingly beautiful and profoundly poetic, Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Gabbeh is quite possibly the most eye-poppingly gorgeous film ever made. This sumptuous allegorical tale focuses on an almost extinct nomadic tribe of South Eastern Iran who are famed for their intricately designed Persian "Gabbeh" carpets.

As the film opens, an elderly couple are bringing their rug (their gabbeh) to a small creek lagoon to wash it. Gabbehs are thick hand-woven wool rugs that contain geometric colour fields and images from nature or history. Suddenly, a young woman depicted on the carpet miraculously comes to life and relates a story of forbidden love. A richly textured weaving of costumes, landscapes, rituals, beliefs, ethnography and traditional storytelling that casts a seductive spell.

Love Iranian cinema? Then don't miss A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, opening Fri 22 May.

“Movies such as this work like meditation or music, to nudge us towards the important.” Roger Ebert

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