Is Salaam Cinema a documentary or a fiction film?

It is both simultaneously. Makhmalbaf staged real auditions and filmed them without a script, so the result occupies a space between documentary observation and directed fiction — a mode sometimes called docufiction.

Salaam Cinema film irani hast? Ba subtitle hast?

Yes, it is a fully Iranian production filmed in Tehran. The audio is original Persian; English subtitles are available on K-Time. No Persian dubbing is included for this title.

Koja mitoonam Salaam Cinema ro online tamasha konam?

The film streams on K-Time. You can watch on any web browser or on your TV and phone without downloading additional software or using a VPN.

How long is Salaam Cinema and is it suitable for all ages?

The film runs 75 minutes. It contains no violence or explicit content — its intensity is entirely emotional and observational — making it accessible to most adult viewers and older teenagers.

Salaam Cinema

Name: Salaam Cinema
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Documentary
Released: 1995
Duration: 75 min
Cast: Shaghayeh Djodat, Behzad Dorani, Feizola Gashghai, Maryam Keyhan, Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Cast: Shaghayeh Djodat, Behzad Dorani, Feizola Gashghai, Maryam Keyhan, Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Salaam Cinema is a 1995 Iranian documentary-drama directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf that blurs the line between film and reality. When a newspaper advertisement invites ordinary Iranians to audition for a new feature film, the filmmaker turns the audition itself into the film — capturing raw, unscripted human moments on camera.

What is Salaam Cinema about?

After placing a casting call in Tehran newspapers, Makhmalbaf is overwhelmed when thousands of hopeful performers arrive to compete for a handful of roles. Faced with an enormous, expectant crowd, he shifts his attention from the planned feature to the audition process itself. The camera observes the applicants — laborers, students, homemakers, dreamers — as they perform improvisations, respond to directions, and reveal something genuine about their yearnings. The film moves between moments of tenderness and tension, comedy and pathos, as each participant confronts not only the director's gaze but their own desire to be seen. The boundary between documentary observation and staged provocation remains deliberately uncertain throughout.

Cast & crew

Mohsen Makhmalbaf directs and appears on screen as himself, making his dual presence central to the work's self-reflexive design. Among those selected through the audition process are Shaghayeh Djodat, Behzad Dorani, Feizola Gashghai, Maryam Keyhan, M.H. Mokhtarian, Kambiz Shabankare, and Mirhadi Tayebi — none of them professional actors at the time of filming.

Context & significance

Released during a fertile period for Iranian art cinema, Salaam Cinema stands alongside the work of Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi in using meta-cinematic structure to examine everyday Iranian life. The premise — ordinary people competing to enter the frame — speaks directly to questions of visibility, ambition, and the power a director holds over those who seek his approval. For Persian-speaking audiences abroad, the film preserves a candid snapshot of Tehran in the mid-1990s: the voices, gestures, and aspirations of people who rarely appear in polished fiction. At 75 minutes it is compact and immediate, belonging to a tradition of Iranian films that treat the process of filmmaking as subject matter worthy of serious attention.

Where & how to watch

Salaam Cinema is available on K-Time with original Persian audio and English subtitles. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.