Through the Olive Trees

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Abbas Kiarostami directs. Hossein Jafarian behind the camera. Abbas Kiarostami cuts. Produced in Iran, France. Dialogue in Persian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 132 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2International production across 2 countries: Iran, France.
• 3Part of the "Koker Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 4Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, shot by Hossein Jafarian. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Editor Abbas Kiarostami shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Mohammadali Keshavarz and Farhad Kheradmand and Zarifeh Shiva carry the top of the cast.
• 7IMDB entry: tt0111845 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Hossein Jafarian

Editing

Abbas Kiarostami

Production design

Abbas Kiarostami

Runtime

104 min · 1h 44m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$40,300

Original language

FA

Certification (US)

G

IMDB

Through the Olive Trees (1994) ↗

Part of

Koker Trilogy

A series of films set in the rural northern-Iranian town of Koker. Poised delicately between fiction and documentary, comedy and tragedy, the lyrical fables in The Koker Trilogy exemplify both the gentle humanism and the playful sleight of hand that define the director’s sensibility. With each successive film, Kiarostami takes us deeper into the behind-the-scenes “reality” of the film that preceded it, heightening our understanding of the complex network of human relationships that sustain both a movie set and a village. The result is a gradual outward zoom that reveals the cosmic majesty and mystery of ordinary life.

• 
  Where Is The Friend's House?

  1987
• 
  Life, and Nothing More…

  1992
• 
  Through the Olive Trees

  1994 · this one

Also by

Abbas Kiarostami

• 
  Close-Up

  1990 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Where Is The Friend's House?

  1987 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Taste of Cherry

  1997 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Life, and Nothing More…

  1992 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Homework

  1989 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Víctor Erice – Abbas Kiarostami: Correspondences

  2007 · ★ 7.5

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Through the Olive Trees - Trailer

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  CiBy 2000

  FR

• 

  Kiarostami Foundation

  IR

• 

  Farabi Cinema

  IR

Key crew

• ProducerAlain Depardieu
• ProducerAbbas Kiarostami
• MusicChema Rosas
• EditorAbbas Kiarostami
• Production DesignAbbas Kiarostami
• Assistant DirectorJafar Panahi
• MusicAmir Farshid Rahimian
• Unit ManagerBakhtiar Saya Hiouch
• Unit ManagerBahbout Nathari
• SoundHossein Moradi
• SoundYadollah Najafi
• SoundMahmoud Samakbashi
• Sound MixerChangiz Sayad
• Visual EffectsNasser Ansari
• Still PhotographerAlireza Ansarian
• Assistant CameraHossein Karimi
• Camera OperatorReza Ghafari

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• filmmaking
• film within a film
• meta
• meta cinema

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1994-09-25· New York Film Festival
• Premiere1994-10-01· Chicago International Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)2019-07-26· IFC Center (2K restoration)
• Theatrical (limited)2019-08-24· Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Digitally Restored Version)
• Theatrical1995-02-10G· Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical1995-02-17G· New York City, New York
• Theatrical2019-09-28· Grand Illusion, Seattle, Washington

Also known as

International titles

• Zire darakhatan zeytonIR
• Zīr-e Derakhtān-e ZeytūnIR
• Oliivipuiden katveessaFI
• Μέσα απ' τα λιόδεντραGR
• Μέσα στους ελαιώνεςGR
• Zir-e derakhtan-e zeytoonIR
• Orîbu no Hayashi o NuketeJP
• Doorheen de olijfbomenNL
• Under the Olive TreesUS