Flatpack

Dir: Bahman Ghobadi

Iran 2009, 106 minutes

With: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad

 

Imagine a world where indie shoegazers are dangerous renegades, where a copy of the NME is like the Anarchist’s Cookbook. This is the world sketched out here by Bahman Ghobadi (Turtles Can Fly), mixing up documentary and fiction to show how far Iranian bands will go to arrange illicit rehearsals and gigs. The central couple Negar and Ashkan are attempting to sort out forged visas for a European tour, and on their journey through the Tehran underground we see an amazing range of acts playing everywhere from basements to cow-sheds.