'Border Café (Café Transit)' - Global Lens Film Festival at SFAI

About the Film
A widow takes an independent stand in this fascinating (and sometimes delicious) drama from Iran. Reyhan (Fereshteh Sadr Orafaei), a young woman with two children, refuses to marry her brother-in-law (as traditional law would have it) and instead determines to reopen her deceased husband’s roadside diner on the border with Turkey. Director Kambozia Partovi (who previously wrote The Circle) vividly portrays Reyahan’s struggle against the rigidity of her environment, as well as her clever ways to cope (like hiding in the kitchen when the truck-stop becomes a culinary hit). Taking place on the border, the film also shows an unusual mix between Western and Iranian societies, with the introduction of characters such as a runaway Ukrainian girl (Esobeta Mikhailishina) and a handsome Greek (Nicolas Papadopolos) who falls for Reyhan’s great cooking.

In Farsi with English subtitles.
Writer/Director: Kambozia Partovi. (Iran 2005) 105 min.

San Francisco Art Institute is proud to present Global Lens 2006. Now in its fourth year, Global Lens offers international feature-length films organized by The Global Film Initiative, a non-profit organization founded to promote cross-cultural understanding through cinema. Recognizing that great storytelling can influence human affairs as well as foster trust and respect between disparate cultures, The Global Film Initiative reaches out to independent filmmakers around the world and debuts their films in the US.

San Francisco Art Institute, California Film Institute, Grand Lake Theater, and the Mexican Heritage Plaza are the exclusive Northern California partners for the Global Lens tour, which includes special outreach presentations for school groups as well as the following public screenings at SFAI. Visit the SFAI website for complete film notes.

September 6
Stolen Life (Sheng si jie)

September 11
Thirst (Atash)

September 13
Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (Cinema, aspirinas e urubus)

September 18
Global Shorts

September 20
Almost Brothers (Quase dois irmãos)

September 25
Max and Mona

September 27
In the Battlefields (Maarek hob)

October 2
Border Café (Café Transit)

October 4
The Night of Truth (La Nuit de la vérité)