Secret Ballot (2001)
"Raye makhfi" (original title)

A female election agent and a gun-toting soldier try to collect votes among the local islanders with mixed success.

Director:

Babak Payami

Writer:

Babak Payami

Stars:

Nassim Abdi, Cyrus Abidi, Youssef Habashi

10 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Nassim Abdi	...	Girl
Cyrus Abidi	...	Soldier
Youssef Habashi
Farrokh Shojaii
Gholbahar Janghali

Storyline

A soldier stationed on a deserted beach wakes up and discovers that it's not going to be an ordinary day: there are the elections, but nobody seems to know anything about them. Just as an electoral urn is being parachuted from the sky, a young woman disembarks on the beach. To the soldier's bafflement, it turns out that she is in charge of the mobile electoral seat and voting on the islands; therefore the soldier is obliged to obey her orders and escort her with his rifle and army jeep across the desert, where the woman obstinately intends to collect the votes. During the day, stressed by a series of absurd events, the two learn to get to know each other. At sunset, when the young woman leaves, the man realizes that the secret vote contained much more than he had ever imagined.

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Plot Keywords:

vote | election | beach | election agent | rifle | 

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Taglines:

In Iran, a major new voice is emerging.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Italy Canada Switzerland Iran

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Void Votes

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$14,609 (USA) (9 August 2002)

Gross:

$114,183 (USA) (11 October 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fabrica, Payam, Rai Cinemafiction

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Surreal

"Secret Ballot" certainly takes its time with each scene, but is quite satisfying by the end. It is as close to surrealism as I've seen recently. The music during the credits is beautiful.