Where Is The Friend's House?

1987 1h 23m FA

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 457

DramaAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Babek Ahmadpour
Ahmad Ahmadpour
Ahmed Ahmadpour
Mohamed Reza Nematzadeh
Kheda Barech Defai
Teacher
Iran Outari
Mother
Ait Ansari
Father
Sadika Taohidi
Persian Neighbour
Biman Mouafi
Ali, a Neighbour
Ali Djamali
Grandfather's Friend

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Writers: Abbas Kiarostami
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

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Part of the "Koker Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, shot by Farhad Saba. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Amine Allah Hessine. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Abbas Kiarostami 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

Babek Ahmadpour and Ahmed Ahmadpour and Kheda Barech Defai carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0093342 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Abbas Kiarostami directs. Farhad Saba behind the camera. Amine Allah Hessine scores. Abbas Kiarostami cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Iran. Dialogue in Persian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
239 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Koker Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, shot by Farhad Saba. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Amine Allah Hessine. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Abbas Kiarostami shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Babek Ahmadpour and Ahmed Ahmadpour and Kheda Barech Defai carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt0093342 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 37 themes, including "village life", "village", "notebook", "family relationships".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Farhad Saba
Original score: Amine Allah Hessine
Editing: Abbas Kiarostami
Costume design: Hassan Zahidi
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: FA
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Where Is The Friend's House? (1987)

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.

Also by

Abbas Kiarostami

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Production companies

Who made it

Kanoon
IR
Farabi Cinema
IR

Key crew

Negative CutterNasser Ansari
In Memory OfSohrab Sepehri
Set DesignerReza Nami
EditorAbbas Kiarostami
Assistant DirectorKiumars Pourahmad
Costume DesignHassan Zahidi
Sound RecordistBehrouz Moavenian
Sound EditorChangiz Sayad
Sound RecordistAsghar Shahverdi
Sound RecordistJahangir Mirshekari
Sound MixerHassan Zahedi
ProducerAli Reza Zarrin
Production ManagerNaser Zera'ati
Camera OperatorMajid Farzaneh

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

village life
village
notebook
family relationships
teacher
school
kindness
iran
child's point of view
schoolboy
empathy
journey
kids
boys
kid
boy
admiring
adoring
amused
appreciative
assertive
compassionate
familiar
angry teacher
children
child actor
child
child actors
iranians
iranian children
iranian kids
iranian boy
male kid
male kids
kid’s point of view
notebooks
yelling teacher

Release history · US

When it landed

Premiere1993-04-01· San Francisco International Film Festival
Premiere1993-04-02· Washington DC International Film Festival
Premiere1993-10-01· Philadelphia International Film Festival
Premiere1994-10-01· Chicago International Film Festival
Premiere2022-09-01· Telluride Film Festival
Theatrical (limited)2019-07-26NR· IFC Center (2K Restoration)
Theatrical (limited)2019-08-10NR· Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Digitally Restored Version)
Theatrical (limited)2019-09-14NR· Northwest Film Forum