Film Screening: The White Balloon

The White Balloon (1995) will be screened in the Picture Gallery as part of the Cinema of Childhood tour, curated by Mark Cousins, which explores issues of child development and well-being through film.

Jafar Panahi's masterpiece follows the adventures of a little girl who wants a new goldfish to celebrate Iranian New Year, and won't take no for an answer. Panahi became the first Iranian filmmaker to win a major prize at Cannes when The White Balloon was awarded the Camera D'Or in 1995. He has been banned from filmmaking by the Iranian government for twenty years.

Time Out describes the film ‘as a movie of audacious subtlety and simplicity’.