After the fascinating Balloon (2019-also reviewed) I decided to see what else was streaming in the online Leeds International Film Festival. Having found Children of Heaven (1997-also reviewed) to be outstanding,I was thrilled to see the event hosting auteur film maker Majid Majidi's latest creation,leading to me looking at the sun.

View on the film:

Dedicating the film in the opening credits to the 152 million in child labour, co-writer/(with Nima Javidi) directing auteur Majid Majidi continues to build on his main theme of on the spot reporting from children living in the crumbling, poverty-ridden back streets of Iran.

Closely working with cinematographer Hooman Behmanesh, Majidi catches the petty crimes committed by Ali and his three friends with long, ultra-stylised Iran New Wave (INW) tracking shots,which sprint down the middle of real locations filled with locals doing their daily work,as dusk sets when the kids flee with their latest steal.

Holding the camera at the height of the superb, largely non-professional child actors, Majidi continues to display a eye for catching the raw, frustrated emotion of the young cast, with rough-edge INW hand-held close-ups placed in isolated corners, where the hopes Ali and friends have of holding a golden ticket to free them from poverty,turns to dust.

Literally digging for gold, the screenplay by Majidi and Javidi places the tunnel under a school, allowing for Ali and his friends to enter a study between fight and flight, with a fantastic crystallization by the writers from the teachers offering a olive branch of hope,whilst the close to bankrupt school sits on the edge of hopeless despair the kids are attempting to tunnel through, in the hope of seeing the sun.

Enough to grab the attention of any young boy, here it's lads from Iran as a modern day Fagin encourages the innocent to dig for glory to free themselves from poverty, but all is not what it seems.

Iran's submission to the 93rd Academy Awards makes clear that the people in the US actually have a lot in common with the people of Iran. Majid Majidi's "Khorshid" ("Sun Children" in English) is about a school that helps underprivileged children, and some students who hear of treasure buried underneath the school. Meanwhile, the people running the school have to contend with paying rent. Sound familiar to the predicaments faced by millions in the US?

An impressive movie, and one that shows our common humanity (like in the US, the Iranians have to deal with a government that ignores their needs). I hope to see more movies by Majidi.