Plot

When an old couple washes their gabbeh - a type of Persian rug - a young woman magically appears and tells them her life story.

An elderly couple go about their routine of cleaning their gabbeh (a intricately-designed rug), while bickering gently with each other. Magically, a young woman appears, helping the two clean the rug. This young woman belongs to the clan whose history is depicted in the design of the gabbeh, and the rug recounts the story of the courtship of the young woman by a stranger from the clan.—Mike Myers <mmyers@ucsd.edu>

Early one morning, an old couple emerge from a hut, she carrying a gabbeh, a small carpet, that she wove many years ago while waiting for her husband-to-be to carry her on horseback away from her family clan. As they wash the gabbeh, it comes to life, telling the old woman's story of waiting for marriage. We join the clan with its sheep, the shearing and spinning and dyeing of wool, and the making of gabbehs. "All life is color," says her poetic, whimsical uncle; "all life is color," chant the women as one of them gives birth. With deep focus and landscapes, the film also tells the story of nomadic life.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>