When does the screening take place?

The screening starts on December 1, 2026, at 8:30 PM.

Where is the film shown?

The event takes place at JGU Shell at Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21 in 55128 Mainz.

How long is the film?

Where Is the Friend's House? lasts about 83 minutes.

Who directed the film?

The direction and screenplay are by the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.

What is the film about?

The boy Ahmad tries to return the accidentally taken notebook of his friend Nematzadeh and embarks on an unusual search.

A notebook becomes the departure: Kiarostami's poetic film evening in Mainz

Name: FILMZ – Shell Cinema: WHERE IS THE FRIEND'S HOUSE?
Start: 2026-12-01T20:30:00+01:00
End: 2026-12-01T21:53:00+01:00
Location: JGU - Muschel

A notebook, a long journey, and the big question of friendship

At the FILMZ-Shell Cinema in JGU Shell, Abbas Kiarostami's poetic film Where Is the Friend's House? is on the program. The heartbreaking odyssey tells the story of Ahmad, who while doing his homework realizes that he accidentally took his friend Nematzadeh's notebook. From a small mistake grows a moving journey through the villages of the Iranian Koker Valley.

A child's mission with great moral strength

Ahmad knows: Without his notebook, his classmate is in trouble. Against his mother's wishes, he sets out to return the notebook. Kiarostami transforms this simple task into a tense search full of detours, locked doors, and fleeting encounters. Every step through the landscape becomes a test of courage, responsibility, and friendship.

Poetic realism and precise dramaturgy

The staging lives from a clear, almost fairy-tale-like dramaturgy. Amid dusty paths, barren façades of houses, and expansive hills, a silent stage experience unfolds for the screen: The camera follows Ahmad with patient attention and turns his journey into a compelling study of childhood independence. The film was made in 1987 in Iran and marks the beginning of Kiarostami's famous Koker Trilogy.

Abbas Kiarostami's humanistic cinematic language

Kiarostami combines documentary accuracy with poetic condensation. Non-professional actors, natural locations, and a restrained visual language place the inner movement of the child at the center. From the boy's perspective, the adult world appears both powerful, mysterious, and astonishingly contradictory. The acoustics of the film screening, the concentrated atmosphere of the Shell Cinema, and the calm sequences of images create an evening that resonates long after.

An award-winning classic of world cinema

Where Is the Friend's House? received, among other accolades, the Bronze Leopard, a FIPRESCI Award, and a special mention from the Ecumenical Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival. The international recognition points to the extraordinary connection of visual simplicity, emotional precision, and societal observation.

The audience does not expect a loud spectacle, but a concentrated journey into the world of a child whose conscience is larger than the obstacles in front of him. Those who appreciate poetic cinema, Iranian film history, and moving stories of solidarity will experience an evening full of resonance at the Shell Cinema.