Sun Children

Sun Children
Iran | 2020 | 99’ | Colour | Farsi | English subtitle | Group: B
Director: Majid Majidi

Iranian master Majid Majidi returns with what is both an entertaining caper and a harsh portrait of young children forced to earn money to support their families. In this story, the children in question are recruited by a local gangster to unearth a pot of hidden treasure, and ironically – bearing in mind they have been deprived of an education – enroll in a high school where the underground tunnels containing the treasure can be accessed. Majidi keeps a fine balance between the adventure of the dig and the daily struggle for survival with which these kids and their teachers are faced. And like Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum before it, the film speaks in the voice of the kids, not only showcasing some wonderfully brash young non-professional child actors but also maintaining a sense of innocence and naivete that will – hopefully – remain intact through the travails and abuses that come their way.

MIKE GOODRIDGE

12-year-old Ali and his three friends work hard to survive and support their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to make fast money. In a turn of events that seems miraculous, Ali is entrusted to find a hidden treasure underground. He recruits his gang, but first, to gain access to the tunnel, the children must enroll at the Sun School, a charitable institution that tries to educate street kids and child laborers. The treasure is only accessible from the basement of the school and it will take weeks of excavation to reach it.

Discovered by Hirokazu Koreeda and working with him since After Life (1999), Miwa Nishikawa assisted many other directors before making her directorial debut with Wild Berries in 2003. Her second film Sway was selected for Directors Fortnight in Cannes, while her third Dear Doctor (2009) was a box office hit in Japan, winning the 2010 Japan Academy prize for best screenplay. Her three subsequent films Dreams For Sale (2012), The Long Excuse (2016) and this year’s Under The Open Sky all premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.