Children of Heaven

"A Little Secret... Their Biggest Adventure!"

1997 1h 28m FA

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 757

DramaFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes. School awaits.

“A Little Secret... Their Biggest Adventure!”

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Cast

Amir Farrokh Hashemian
Ali
Bahare Seddighi
Zahra
Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi
Roya
Reza Naji
Ali's Father
Fereshte Sarabandi
Ali's Mother
Kamal Mirkarimi
Assistant
Behzad Rafi
Trainer
Dariush Mokhtari
Ali's Teacher

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Majid Majidi
Writers: Majid Majidi
Languages: Persian
Countries: Iran

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hassan Hassandoust shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Amir Farrokh Hashemian and Bahare Seddighi and Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A Little Secret... Their Biggest Adventure!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Majid Majidi directs. Hassan Hassandoust cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Iran. Dialogue in Persian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 5.1× over at the box office.
429 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
6Editor Hassan Hassandoust shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Amir Farrokh Hashemian and Bahare Seddighi and Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A Little Secret... Their Biggest Adventure!".
9IMDB entry: tt0118849 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 32 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Editing: Hassan Hassandoust
Sound: Mohammad Reza Delpak
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $180,000
Box office: $925,402
Return: 514% of budget
Original language: FA
IMDB: Children of Heaven (1997)

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Majid Majidi

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2025-06-03
★ 9/10
<em>'Children of Heaven'</em> is quite sad in parts, though it ends up being rather wholesome in actuality. This 1997 flick features a simple premise but one that doesn't fail to draw at the heartstrings, I was immediately hooked into caring as soon as the youngsters appeared. Amir Farrokh Hashemian is brilliant as Ali. I'm not one to feel overly emotional when watching fictional things, but I actually felt sad whenever the kid was sad... even when he was teary eyed, the little fella almost got me too! Bahare Seddiqi is also extremely sweet as Zahra. Reza Naji is the best of the adults, I enjoyed his character. That scene with Ali at the gate buzzer is real nice. Other positives are the locations, cinematography and score - all of which I appreciated. I don't hold any negatives, in fact. A great introduction to Iranian cinema for me.

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