Border Café (2005) Café Transit (original title)

Director:

Kambuzia Partovi

Writer:

Kambuzia Partovi

Release Date:

3 November 2005 (Iran)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

An Iranian Woman, Her brother in law, a Russian girl, a Greek man and a Border Cafe.

Plot:

"Cafe Transit" depicts an independent-minded widow who bucks tradition to run her dead husband's truck stop café.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Brother In Law | Truck | Border | Cafe

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy	...	Reyhan
Parviz Parastui	...	Nasser
Nikos Papadopoulos	...	Zakario
Svieta Mikalishina	...	Svieta
Vantzos Konstantinos		(as Vanchos Constantin)
Esmail Soltanian	...	Oujan
Jafar Vahabpour	...	Karim
Rana Karmanshahi	...	Rana
Zahra Jalilzadeh	...	Sara
Mehtab Talebi	...	Zoleykhah
Teli Ghanimati
Telebe Kazem Shayani
Serie Aghdami
Roya Zare
Hoseyn Mahmodzadeh
Jodat Karhan
Baghnuleh Rahimof
Fatim Rajaby
Sekredy Mahmodtay
Nazar Hadja Hamedof
Mami Shavich
Cholokhadzeh
Ali Shir Nazarof
Ahledin Nabiof
Mersad Elderzovich
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kostas Vantzos

Directed by
Kambuzia Partovi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kambuzia Partovi

Produced by
Charoen Iamphungporn	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Ali Birang

Cinematography by
Mohammad Reza Sokout

Film Editing by
Jafar Panahi
Jacques Witta

Production Design by
Hassan Farsi

Sound Department
Parviz Abnar	....	sound
Mohamad Mokhtari	....	sound

Production Companies

• Silkroad Production
• Aftab Alamtab
• Granite Rock Films

Distributors

• Colifilms Distribution (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• Global Film Initiative (2005) (Canada) (all media)
• Global Film Initiative (2005) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Global Film Initiative  funding

Also Known As:

"Café Transit" - France (original title)

Runtime:

Iran:105 min | Canada:105 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:105 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

France | Iran

Language:

Persian | Greek | Russian | Turkish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13

Company:

Silkroad Production

Trivia:

Selected as Iran's submission in the Best Foreign Film category for the 2006 Oscars (Won over "Chaharshanbe-soori").

Glorious Food ! Delicious Movie!

Cafe Transit follows in the footsteps of Big Night, Babette's Feast, Tampopo and other excellent movies made particularly memorable for their integration of food as a focal point in the story. It is also one of the best, relatively mainstream, movies to come out of Iran in the last few years.

Its central theme is the role of women in male dominated societies. Its heroine, Reyhan, has just become a widow, with two small children to take care of. Her deceased husband's brother, Nasser, offers (in the local tradition of that part of Iran) to look after her by taking her as his second wife. Reyhan, however, is an independent woman and, spurning Nasser's offer, decides instead to re-open her husband's unsuccessful truck stop café. This puts her in direct competition with Nasser, who owns a much bigger and successful truck stop restaurant. As her café gradually builds up a fervent following, the tension between her and Nasser rises; particularly when a Greek truck driver takes a liking to Reyhan.

Cafe Transit is full of interesting characters and situations. It is the feature film debut for famed Iranian screen writer Kamobozia Partovi (The Circle, Taraneh Who is 15 Years Old). Fereshteh Sadr Orfani (Partovi's real life wife) is outstanding as Reyhan (she won a best actress award from Tehran International Film Festival) and the leading Iranian actor of the current Iranian cinema, Parviz Parastoui, is, as usual, excellent as Nasser.

What really separates Cafe Transit from other worthwhile Iranian movies is the way it depicts Reyhan's skills at cooking and transfers the appreciation of her cooking to the audience without us even tasting the food! Don't miss this movie if you get a chance!