The Bread and Alley

Abbas Kiarostami's short from 1970 is his first film. A small boy sent out for bread meets a dog at the top of the street on his way home and cannot get past. The film is almost entirely that one situation: the boy waiting, trying, retreating, and eventually finding a way through. Across a little over ten minutes there is neither music nor explanation. Everything we would see in the rest of Kiarostami's cinema is already in place: the child's point of view, real locations, non-professional performers, and the ability to turn a simple obstacle into a whole story. It was made at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. It is one of the starting points of the strand of Iranian cinema that later drew international attention. Who it's for: viewers curious about Kiarostami and the roots of Iranian film. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a feature and a developed plot; this is a ten-minute short.