Film Screening: The Runner (1984) with MENA Open House and reception

The Runner (Amir Naderi, 1984) follows Amiro, an eleven-year-old orphan in the southern Iranian port city of Abadan, who lives in a rusted tanker and survives by selling water, shining shoes, and gathering empty bottles. His relentless desire to run and to win a local race becomes both an assertion of dignity and a metaphor for striving beyond poverty, social barriers, and colonial constraints. Although never overtly political, the film is set in Abadan, a city shaped by oil, colonial entanglements, and stark class divides, and it contemplates these conditions through imagery at once elemental and lyrical. With its poetic vision of water, fire, and the human body in motion, The Runner became a landmark of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema and gained international recognition. 

Please join the Middle East North African Studies Program for a screening of this groundbreaking film on Wednesday October 22 at 5:30 PM in Stone Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Building. The film will be followed by a reception and Open House for MENA on Woodward Way: discover courses, programs, study abroad, and student opportunities – with food, community, and conversation.