At Five in the Afternoon (2003) Panj é asr (original title)

Director:

Samira Makhmalbaf

Writers:

Mohsen Makhmalbaf (novel)
Samira Makhmalbaf (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 August 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Nogreh is a young Afghani woman living with her father and her sister-in-law, Leylomah, whose husband...

Plot Keywords:

Afghanistan | Burqa | Horse | Title Directed By Female | Starvation

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Agheleh Rezaie	...	Nogreh
Abdolgani Yousefrazi	...	Father
Razi Mohebi	...	Poet
Marzieh Amiri	...	Leylomah

Directed by
Samira Makhmalbaf

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf		novel
Samira Makhmalbaf		screenplay

Produced by
Siamak Alagheband	....	producer
Jean Labadie	....	executive producer
Mohsen Makhmalbaf	....	producer
Vincent Maraval	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Mohammad Reza Darvishi

Cinematography by
Ebrahim Ghafori
Samira Makhmalbaf

Film Editing by
Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Marzieh Makhmalbaf	....	assistant director
Razi Mohebi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Faroukh Fadace	....	sound
Hussein Mahdavi	....	sound mixer
Behroz Shahamat	....	sound

Production Companies

• Bac Films
• Makhmalbaf Productions
• Wild Bunch

Distributors

• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2005) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)

Also Known As:

"Panj é asr" - Iran (original title)

Runtime:

France:105 min

Country:

Iran | France

Language:

Dari

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | Sweden:7 | Norway:7 | Germany:6 | Italy:T | Finland:S

Company:

Bac Films

Movie Connections:

Featured in Joy of Madness (2003)

There was hope & despair in Afghanistan at 5 in the afternoon

In "At Five in the Afternoon", we follow the fortunes of a young woman in Afghanistan and her family. Nogreh is caught between two worlds. On the one hand, she attends a school where the teacher encourages girls to become doctors, engineers and even President. At the same time, Nogreh must wait until she steps out of her father's home before she lifts the veil of her burka and trades flat-soled shoes for high heels.

Nogreh is a very idealistic and ambitious young woman who emulates Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and dreams of being President of her own country some day. Yet she has been kept in a state of childlike naivety and ignorance about politics at home and abroad, due to the teachings of the Koran, Shariah (Islamic law) and the Taliban.

It is exciting to hear the young girls debate the status of women in their country. But the film is also sympathetic and understanding toward the old Afghanistan, symbolized by Nogreh's father. He bewails that "Blasphemy has overrun the city" and the world, as he knew it, has ceased to exist. To add pathos to the situation, he feels he can confide his feelings only to a dumb animal -- his donkey, who "knows nothing but hay".

The film's title echoes a recurring verse from Federico Garcia Lorca's poem, "Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejia", about the goring of a bullfighter. Like Lorca's poem, "At Five in the Afternoon" is clouded over by a somber atmosphere of tragedy, death and despair. Yet the film remains remarkable for its astonishingly hopeful -- and indeed radical and revolutionary -- vision of hope for Afghanistan and indeed all of the Arab world.