Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?
Said Mohamadi | Said |
Behnaz Jafari | Halaleh |
Bahman Ghobadi | Reeboir |
Mohamad Karim Rahmati | Father |
Rafat Moradi | Ribvar |
Mayas Rostami | Young boy storyteller |
Saman Akbari | Group leader |
Ahmad Bahrami | Marriage registrar |
Mohamad Moradi | Match maker |
Karim Moradi | Old man |
Hassan Mohamadi | Child |
Rasool Mohamadi | The boy porter |