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The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi)

**The White Balloon Overview**
Jafar Panahi's 1995 feature debut, *The White Balloon* (Badkonake sefid), follows seven-year-old Razieh as she navigates Tehran streets on Nowruz eve to buy a plump goldfish for good luck, despite her family's skinny pond fish. With a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami, the film captures her quest's mishaps, like losing her 500-toman note twice in grates, through encounters with shopkeepers, a soldier, and an Afghan balloon seller [1][3]. Clocking in at 85 minutes, it blends childlike wonder with subtle social observations on outsiders in Iranian society [5][7].

**Critical Reception and Awards**
The film won the Caméra d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, marking the first major Iranian win there and launching Panahi's career after assisting Kiarostami. Critics praise its ultra-realistic style, poetic details, and focus on a child's perspective amid adult indifference, echoing *The Red Balloon* while meditating on cinema and urban life in Tehran [2][4][9]. Aida Mohammadkhani's natural performance as Razieh stands out, with the ending lingering on the overlooked Afghan boy for poignant effect [5].

**Themes and Style**
Panahi employs long takes and minimalism to immerse viewers in Razieh's detours, highlighting themes of transience, kindness among strangers, and marginalization—like the lonely soldier and refugee—without overt drama. Its fairy-tale-like simplicity reveals incidental cruelty and lost opportunities in adult worlds [2][5]. As a stoic viewer or film blogger, this film's quiet resilience in everyday setbacks aligns with endurance amid obstacles.

Citations:
[1] The White Balloon - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Balloon
[2] The White balloon | Jafar Panahi | 1995 | ACMI collection https://www.acmi.net.au/works/85485--the-white-balloon/
[3] The White Balloon | Screen Slate https://www.screenslate.com/articles/white-balloon
[4] The White Balloon -- Review and Analysis (A Forgotten Classic: Episode 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-BfU2njOY
[5] The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995) - Cinescope https://cine-scope.com/2025/09/07/the-white-balloon-jafar-panahi-1995/
[6] Criterion Film Club Discussion #218: The White Balloon https://www.reddit.com/r/criterionconversation/comments/1hdi1k5/criterion_film_club_discussion_218_the_white/
[7] The White Balloon (1995) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112445/
[8] The White Balloon (1995) | MUBI https://mubi.com/en/tr/films/the-white-balloon
[9] Jafar Panahi - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jafar_Panahi
[10] "The White Balloon" (1995). Beautiful Iranian film by Jafar Panahi. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/39eedv/the_white_balloon_1995_beautiful_iranian_film_by/