A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire in the Near and Middle East at the dawn of the twentieth century. Her knowledge of the tribal leaders is used by the British to establish the Kingdoms of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The Adventures of Hajji Baba

1954

English

5.9

♡ 10

17%

Don Weis Director

Booth Colman as Akim

Paul Picerni as Nurel-Din

Thomas Gomez as Osman Aga

Anna Navarro as Slave Girl

In Ispahan, Persia, Hajji Baba is leaving his father's shop to seek a greater fortune, while the Princess Fawzia is trying to talk her father, the Caliph into giving her in marriage to Nur-El-Din, a rival prince known far and wide as mean and fickle. Her father intends for Fawzia to marry a friend and ally, and makes plans to send her to him.

Not Without My Daughter

1991

English

6.5

♡ 27

50%

Brian Gilbert Director

Sally Field as Betty Mahmoody

Sheila Rosenthal as Mahtob

Alfred Molina as Moody

Sarah Badel as Nicole

An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.

Son of Ali Baba

1952

English

5.8

♡ 8

27%

Kurt Neumann Director

Victor Jory as Caliph

Gregg Palmer as Farouk

William Reynolds as Mustapha

Chuck Hayward as Villager

In ancient Persia the son of Ali Baba (of forty thieves fame), Kashma Baba is a military cadet by day and a party goer by night. He falls for a girl who he later finds is an escaped slave girl belonging to the wicked Caliph. They flee to his father's palace. But alas, there's more to her than meets the eye. Will the evil schemers succeed? The sons of the Forty Thieves to the rescue!

Window Horses

2016

English

6.7

♡ 4

92%

Ann Marie Fleming Director

Ellen Page as Kelly

Shohreh Aghdashloo as Mehrnaz

Omid Abtahi as Ramin

Sandra Oh as Rosie Ming

Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all who tell her stories that force her to confront her past; the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of Poetry itself. It’s about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It’s about being curious. Staying open. And finding your own voice through the magic of poetry. Rosie goes on an unwitting journey of forgiveness, reconciliation, and perhaps above all, understanding, through learning about her father’s past, her own cultural identity, and her responsibility to it.

One Night with the King

2006

English

6.0

♡ 8

17%

78%

Action

based on novel or book

Michael O. Sajbel Director

Tiffany Dupont as Hadassah / Esther

James Callis as Haman, the Agagite

Luke Goss as King Xerxes

John Noble as Prince Admantha

In Biblical times, a girl disguises her Jewish origins when the Persian king comes looking for a new bride among his subjects.

The Bible Collection: Esther

1999

English

6.6

♡ 10

80%

Raffaele Mertes Director

Marco Bonini as Emissary

F. Murray Abraham as Mordecai

Darren Bransford as Nehemia

Ornella Muti as Queen Vashti

Esther, the beautiful queen of Persia, intervenes to save the Jewish people from a bloody massacre.

Iron Island

2005

Persian

7.1

♡ 6

97%

Mohammad Rasoulof Director

Hossein Farzi-Zad as Ahmad

Ali Nassirian as Captain Nemat

Didar Razzaghi Shirazi as Pregnant Lady

Neda Pakdaman as The girl

Squatters live on a mothballed oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. The children attend a school on board; men harvest scrap metal and old oil in the hull; women keep house and raise children and Captain Nemat runs it all with an iron hand. We follow a lad who rescues fish trapped in the hull, an old man who stares at the sun, the idealistic teacher, and Ahmad, the Captain's assistant who has fallen in love with a young woman whose father wants to marry her to someone of means. What future has this sinking city?

The Last Fiction

2018

Persian

6.8

♡ 7

77%

Action

ancient middle east

Animation

based on song, poem or rhyme

Ashkan Rahgozar Director

Ashkan Khatibi as Afaridoon

Baran Kosari as Mandana

Leila Hatami as Shahrzad

Tina Pakravan as Voice Casting

Kingdom of Jamkard, ancient Persia. After defeating the armies of Ahriman, embodiment of evil, King Jamshid, bearer of the light of Divine Power, abandons his people blinded by pride, determined to conquer new lands. Thus, by chance, Zahhaak becomes regent and undertakes the reconstruction of the devastated capital. But then Ahriman, who dwells in the heart of every human being, begins to poison his tormented soul.

The Physician

2013

English

7.2

♡ 70

74%

Action

Adventure

based on novel or book

religious fundamentalism

Philipp Stölzl Director

Stellan Skarsgård as Barber

Ben Kingsley as Ibn Sina

Michael Jibson as Stratford Monk

Wilfried Hochholdinger as Tavern Guest

England, 1021. Rob Cole, a boy born in a miserable mining town, swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.

The Stoning of Soraya M.

2008

English

7.9

♡ 17

58%

Cyrus Nowrasteh Director

Jim Caviezel as Freidoune Sahebjam

Prasanna Puwanarajah as Revolutionary Guard

Mozhan Marnò as Soraya M.

Shohreh Aghdashloo as Zahra

In 1986 Iran, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village, enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant ended in tragedy.

The Book of Esther

2013

English

4.2

♡ 16

41%

David A.R. White Director

Jen Lilley as Esther

Mark Irvingsen as Gaspar

Eliza Roberts as Judith

Robert Miano as Mordecai

When Ester becomes King Xerxes’ queen, her Cousin Mordecai and that despicable Haman engage in a dangerous game of intrigue for control of the young Persian King Xerxes.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010

English

6.5

♡ 264

37%

brother against brother

Mike Newell Director

Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan

Gemma Arterton as Tamina

João Costa Menezes as Trumpeter

Richard Coyle as Tus

A rogue prince reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time – gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Alexander

2004

English

5.6

♡ 130

15%

Oliver Stone Director

Colin Farrell as Alexander

Jared Leto as Hephaistion

Anthony Hopkins as Old Ptolemy

Angelina Jolie as Olympias

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

2007

English

6.7

♡ 2

79%

Wayne Wang Director

Pasha D. Lychnikoff as Boris

Brian Gibbons as elder Leach

Angela Dierdorff Petro as Maggie

Feihong Yu as Yilan

The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.

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Queen of the Desert

The Adventures of Hajji Baba

Not Without My Daughter

Son of Ali Baba

Window Horses

One Night with the King

The Bible Collection: Esther

Iron Island

The Last Fiction

The Physician

The Stoning of Soraya M.

The Book of Esther

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Alexander

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers