RADIO DREAMS
Director: Babak Jalali Theatrical release: May 19, 2017Winner of the 45th Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Tiger Award, RADIO DREAMS creates the strange yet very real world of PARS-FM – a Farsi-language radio station broadcasting from the heart of San Francisco. The story unfolds over a single day as the station’s program manager, Hamid – a brilliant, misunderstood Iranian writer (played by the “Iranian Bob Dylan” Mohsen Namjoo) – prepares for a triumphant broadcast – a live performance pairing Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan’s first rock band. Meanwhile, Hamid must juggle a dysfunctional mix of on-air talent, station managers, and performers while fending off the owner’s plans to wrest control of the station. With gentle humor and a deadpan eye towards cultural differences, RADIO DREAMS brings to life the sometimes bizarre experience of immigrants pursuing dreams in the U.S. A perfect mixture of honesty, art, and socio-political topicality served up as an ingenious, offbeat transmission.
A charming, dryly funny look at the intersection of cultures and the universal language of rock.Variety
Babak Jalali’s deadpan comedy is both smart and deeply human.The Guardian
It is often droll, sometimes poetic, occasionally absurd and ultimately a mix of the happy and sad.SF Gate
Critics' Pick - “Waiting for Metallica” could indeed be an alternate title for the movie, but this quiet, often sad film, directed by Babak Jalali, is about much more than that.The New York Times, Glenn Kenny
Jalali peppers this darkly funny, often absurdist piece with enough socio-political messaging to add heft but not didacticism. It all makes for a singular, well-observed balancing act.The Los Angeles Times, Gary Goldstein