A Time for Drunken Horses (Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

: زمانی برای مستی اسب‌ها, Zamani barayé masti asbha, http://www.amude.de/amude/kurdi/werger/werger5/hevpeyvin.html) is a 2000 Iranian (Kurdish

Kurdish language

Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

/Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

) film directed by Bahman Ghobadi

Bahman Ghobadi

Bahman Ghobadi is an Iranian film director of Kurdish ethnicity. He was born on February 1, 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan Province. Ghobadi belongs to the so called "new wave" of Iranian cinema.-Biography:...

 and produced in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. It was a co-winner of the Caméra d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 in 2000 http://www.britannica.com/eb/table?tocId=9346281&idxStructId=394107&typeId=.

Plot

An Iranian Kurdish family is trying to survive after the death of its parents. Ayoub, the eldest boy in the family, becomes the head of the household and must do whatever work available to survive. Madi, Ayoub's handicapped brother, is in need of a medical operation. Ayoub goes to great lengths to collect money for the operation by smuggling truck tires with a group of Kurdish villagers near the Iran-Iraq border. Ayoub ultimately falls short of his intended goal and his uncle decides to marry off his sister in return for the groom's family financing Madi's operation on the Iranian side of the border. When they arrive the mother of the groom refuses to accept Madi and agrees to give Ayoub and his uncle a mule as compensation. Ayoub decides to take the mule to Iraq where it is worth more, and sell it to pay for his brother's surgery. Some smugglers let him come along with him. They use mules to carry goods and feed them liquor allowing them to better survive the harsh mountain winter. But they are ambushed while heading to the border, and the horses are too drunk to carry on. Ayoub narrowly manages to escape, and the last shot is of him and his brother crossing the border.

Awards

1. Best Film Award, Golden Camera (Caméra d'Or
   Caméra d'Or
   The Caméra d'Or is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections ....
   
   ), Cannes Film Festival
   Cannes Film Festival
   The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
   
    , France, 2000.
2. Special Jury Award, Silver Hugo , Chicago International Film Festival
   Chicago International Film Festival
   The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
   
    , USA, 2000.
3. Best Feature Award, Edinburgh Film Festival, Scotland, UK, 2000.
4. Best Feature Award, Santa Fe Film Festival , Fort Lauderdale , USA, 2000.
5. Grand Jury Award, São Paulo International Film Festival , Brazil, 2000.
6. Best Feature, Banff International Film Festival, Canada, 2000.
7. Special Jury Award, Gijon International Film Festival, Spain, 2000.
8. Best feature Award, Children Film Festival , Isfahan , Iran, 2000.

Cast

1. Ayoub Ahmadi
2. Rojin Younessi
3. Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini
4. Madi Ekhtiar-dini
5. Kolsolum Ekhtiar-dini
6. Karim Ekhtiar-dini
7. Rahman Salehi
8. Osman Karimi
9. Nezhad Ekhtiar-dini

External links

• Review by Deborah Young, Variety.
• Review by A. O. Scott, The New York Times
  The New York Times
  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
  
  .
• Review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  .
• Review by Philip French, The Observer
  The Observer
  The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
  
  .
• Review by Gavin Collinson, BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  .
• Review by Ed Gonzalez, Slant.
• Review by Mick LaSalle et al., San Francisco Chronicle
  San Francisco Chronicle
  thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...