Long synopsis : Mohsen Makhmalbaf's extraordinary fable of love, suffering and self-sacrifice is the story of Nafas. A young Afghan refugee living in Canada, she receives a desperate letter from her younger sister, who writes that she will kill herself at the moment of the next solar eclipse. Nafas fled Afghanistan during the civil war with her father, a doctor. Her sister, terribly injured by a land mine, was too ill to travel with them, and remained behind, in Kandahar. With great difficulty, Nafas manages to reach Iran, where she seeks help. Heavily veiled, disguised as a peasant, she is led across war-ravaged, mine-strewn wastelands by a boy she encounters in a cemetery To save her sister, whatever the cost, she must brave sickness, ruthless bandits and border guards if she is to reach the town of her birth before the eclipse...

Cast

• Ike Ogut, Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tantai, Sadou Teymouri, Hoyatala Hakimi, Monica Hankievich

Crew

• Producer(s): Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Director(s): Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Screenplay: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• DP: Ebrahim Ghafori
• Editing: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Original Music: Mohammad Reza Darvishi
• Set Design: Akbar Meshkini

• Original Title: THE SUN BEHIND THE MOON
• Genre(s): Drama, Political


• Production company: MAKHMALBAF FILM HOUSE, BAC FILMS, WILD BUNCH
• Production date: 2001
• Language: Persian
• Duration: 85 min

• Festival de Cannes 2001 - Competition
  Award(s) : Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
• Toronto International Film Festival 2001
  
• European Film Awards 2001 - Nominated
  Award(s) : Screen International Award
• National Board of Review 2001
  Award(s) : Freedom of Expression Award
• Munich International Film Festival 2001
  
• Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2001 - Parallel Sections
  Award(s) : FIPRESCI Prize
• Edinburgh International Film Festival 2001
  
• Busan International Film Festival 2001
  
• Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2001
  
• Singapore International Film Festival 2001
  
• Ljubljana International Film Festival 2001
  
• Seminci - Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid 2001