TEHRAN – A restored edition of Amir Naderi’s 1984 drama “The Runner”, an Iranian new wave masterpiece of the post-revolution cinema, will be screened at Film Forum in Manhattan during a fortnight’s program starting October 28. 

The film is often praised for having one of the best child performances of all time with Madjid Nirumand.

In recognition of these accolades, the organizers have announced that Naderi and Nirumand will be attending the screenings in person.

The film follows an illiterate, but resourceful, 11-year-old orphan (Nirumand), who lives alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan. He survives by shining shoes, selling water, and diving for deposit bottles thrown overboard by foreigners, while being bullied by adults and older kids. But he finds solace by dreaming about departing cargo ships and airplanes and by running, seemingly to nowhere.

Inspired by Naderi’s own childhood, “The Runner” is among the films that first drew the world’s attention to the new Iranian cinema. 

It was shown in Venice and London, though not released in the U.S. until 1991, when it opened at Film Forum. The new restoration features brand-new subtitles by Maryam Najafi and Bruce Goldstein.

The film is often compared to De Sica’s “Shoeshine” and “The Bicycle Thief” and other great works of Italian Neo-Realism, Bunuel’s “Los Olvidados”, Héctor Babenco’s “Pixote” and Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows”.

The Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of Naderi’s work in 2018. Curator Dave Kehr wrote, “Naderi spent his formative years on the street. A job working in a movie theater led him to discover his true homeland, the cinema.” 

“Naderi has remained a citizen of that refined world ever since, pursuing his passion for filmmaking around the globe with no regard for physical borders or language barriers,” he added.

Nirumand’s performance in “The Runner” was named #12 in a list of “The 25 Greatest Child Performances in Cinema History” on the film site Taste of Cinema. The Los Angeles Times called it “the greatest performance ever given by a child.”

Photo: Majid Nirumand acts in a scene from “The Runner” by Amir Naderi.

MMS/YAW