Davandeh (The Runner). 1984. Iran. Written and Directed by Amir Naderi. With Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri,, Musa Torkizadeh. DCP. Restored by Cineric Inc., New York. In Farsi; English subtitles. 91 min.
The first feature to emerge from post-revolutionary Iran, Amir Naderi’s breakthrough helped to establish the tone and substance of what would soon emerge as the Iranian New Wave. Drawing on his own childhood in the port city of Abadan, Naderi follows an orphan boy (11-year-old Madjid Niroumand, in an astonishing performance) on his daily rounds, as he shines shoes, sells ice water, and collects empty deposit bottles. He finds joy in the act of running, without direction or purpose. Often compared to Vittoria De Sica’s Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thief, Luis Buñuel’s Los Olvidados, Héctor Babenco’s Pixote, and François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Naderi’s tenth feature is among the films that first drew the world’s attention to Iranian cinema. A screening in MoMA’s 2018 Naderi retrospective inspired Rialto to begin the difficult navigation of pursuing rights and existing film elements, and their version includes new subtitles by Maryam Najafi and Bruce Goldstein, approved by director Naderi. “Post-Revolutionary Iran’s first masterpiece and one of the most exhilarating films in cinema history” (Godfrey Cheshire)