Director: Dariush Mehrjui
Cast: Ali Nasirian, Ezzatollah Entezami, Amrollah Saberi
Madresei Ke Miraftim is a 1980 Iranian drama film directed by Dariush Mehrjui, set inside a guidance school where students quietly push back against an authoritarian vice-principal whose strict regime suffocates any spark of youth and independent thought.
What is Madresei Ke Miraftim about?
Inside the walls of a boys' guidance school in Iran, a group of students finds itself trapped under the iron grip of a vice-principal who enforces obedience through humiliation and fear. Day after day, the young men endure his suffocating rules, but resentment slowly builds beneath the surface. What begins as quiet defiance — small acts of resistance, stolen moments of solidarity — gradually crystallizes into a collective stand. The film traces the emotional arc from submission to conscience, asking how much pressure a person can absorb before something has to give. Shot with restraint, it lets atmosphere and performance carry the weight.
The K-Time take
Mehrjui frames the school as a microcosm of authoritarian control, drawing understated but powerful performances from a cast steeped in Iranian stage tradition. The film's quiet tension and refusal to melodramatize give it a lasting moral clarity that feels as relevant now as it did at release.
Cast & crew
Director Dariush Mehrjui, one of the defining figures of the Iranian New Wave, brings his trademark observational style to this institutional drama. Ali Nasirian, a revered presence in Persian theater and cinema, anchors the student side with quiet conviction. Ezzatollah Entezami, legendary for his nuanced gravitas, and Amrollah Saberi round out the key roles.
Context & significance
Released in 1980, the film arrived at a seismic moment in Iranian history — a period when questions of authority, obedience, and institutional power were alive in every conversation. For the Iranian diaspora, Madresei Ke Miraftim resonates on multiple levels: as a document of a vanished school culture, as a portrait of collective resistance, and as a reminder of how Mehrjui's cinema consistently gave voice to those crushed by systems larger than themselves. The guidance-school setting draws on a specifically Iranian educational tradition, making it deeply familiar to viewers who grew up in that era.
Where & how to watch
Madresei Ke Miraftim is available on K-Time in original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Cancel anytime.