LFF - Films - The Wind Carpet

LFF - Films - The Wind Carpet: "The Wind Carpet (Kaze no jutan)

Ten-year-old Sakura (Miyu Yagyu) travels with her father Makoto (Takaaki Enoki) from Takayama City, Japan, to Isfahan, Iran, to pick up a Persian carpet designed by her late mother. Although warmly greeted by Makoto’s friend Akbar (Reza Kianian), it soon becomes clear that the carpet – needed in 20 days’ time for a Japanese street-festival – has not even been started. Coming to the rescue is Ruzbeh (Farboud Ahmadjo), Akbar’s tenacious and streetwise 11-year-old nephew, who mobilises the locals into a sort of carpet-weaving Task Force in a bid to get the job done. This Iranian-Japanese co-production fittingly celebrates cross-cultural collaboration as a way of getting results and, perhaps more importantly, enriching each other’s traditional way of life. Although essentially a conventional fish-out-of-water story, director Kamal Tabrizi brings a variety of tones and textures to the film to keep it from following a predictable pattern. Vibrant, good-natured and with a deeply-embedded emotional thread running throughout, this is an accessible family film with much to offer fans of Iranian cinema, fans of Japanese cinema and fans of cinema full-stop.

Suitable for ages 11+

David Cox

Directed by Kamal Tabrizi
Written by Mohammad Soleymani
With Farbod Ahmadjo, Reza Kianian, Miyu Yagyu
Country Japan, Iran
Year of Production 2003
Running Time 149 minutes
Subtitled YES "