Short synopsis : Released after 30 years' wrongful imprisonment, Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel leaves Iran to search for his wife who, believing him long dead, left their homeland with their children to live as an exile in Turkey.

Long synopsis : Based on true events, RHINO SEASON tells the story of Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel (Behrouz Vossoughi) and his wife Mina (Monica Bellucci), a couple unjustly incarcerated during Iran's Islamic Revolution. Having survived 30 terrible years in prison, Sahel is finally released, only to discover that Mina, believing him long dead, has left the country for Turkey, where she lives as an immigrant with her two children, still mourning the loss of her husband. A damaged ghost of his former self, Sahel sets out for Istanbul in search of the woman he loves. As he travels, his journey quickly reveals itself as an uncanny passage through the darkness of their history, the black shadow of the man who has kept them apart all these years re-emerges... A lyrical account of Sahel's past and present blurs all boundaries in the landscape of his experience. Woven together from his poems, the words that follow Sahel are both his curse and saviour. Will he find Mina? Will they learn to live again?

Cast

• Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci, Yilmaz Erdogan, Caner Cindoruk, Belçim Bilgin, Arash Labaf

Crew

• Producer(s): Bahman Ghobadi
• Director(s): Bahman Ghobadi
• DP: Turaj Aslani
• Editing: Valérie Loiseleux
• Set Design: Ali Daryai, Bahman Ghobadi

• Original Title: FASLE KARGADAN
• Genre(s): Drama


• Production date: 2012
• Language: Persian
• Duration: 108 min