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The Cyclist (Persian: بايسيكلران, romanized: Bicycleran) is a 1987 Iranian sports-drama film written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, starring Moharram Zaynalzadeh as Abu Ahmed.

Plot

Nasim, a poor Afghan refugee in Iran, gives a demonstration in his town's square, during which he rides his bicycle without stopping for seven days and seven nights, with the aim of raising money to pay for life-saving surgery for his dying wife. In the end, even after seven days, he continues to pedal endlessly, too fatigued to hear his son's and the crowd's pleas to get off his bicycle. One scholar analyses the film as an allegory which parallels the exploitation that Afghan refugees suffer from in Iran and from which they are unable to escape.

Accolades

In 1991 the film won the best narrative film award in the Hawaii International Film Festival.

See also

• List of films about bicycles and cycling

References

1. Adelkhah & Olszewska 2007, p. 137
2. Adelkhah & Olszewska 2007, p. 138
3. Hawaii International Film Festival (1991) - IMDb

• Adelkhah, Fariba; Olszewska, Zuzanna (2007), "The Iranian Afghans", Iranian Studies, 40 (2): 137–165, doi:10.1080/00210860701269519, S2CID 159791018

External links

• The Cyclist at IMDb

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• 1987 films
• 1980s sports drama films
• Films set in Iran
• Iranian drama films
• 1980s Persian-language films
• Films directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Cycling films
• Films whose director won the Best Directing Crystal Simorgh
• 1987 drama films
• Films whose writer won the Best Screenplay Crystal Simorgh
• Iranian film stubs
• 1980s drama film stubs