No One Knows About Persian Cats

The acclaimed fifth feature film from Bahman Ghobadi, the director of Half Moon and Turtles Can Fly opened the Certain Regard strand of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It combines musical performances with an edgy underground narrative and follows Iranian musicians Negar (Negar Shaghagi) and Ashkan (Ashkan Koshanejad) as they look for band members to play at a London concert plus the visa that allows them to leave totalitarian Iran to do so.

No One Knows About Persian Cats features music from a wide range of genres including Iranian rap, jazz and electric blues. Executive produced by imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi the film includes performances in English and Farsi.

For over 30 years the Iranian government has banned certain types of music deemed as impure, compelling many fans of Iranian alternative music and western bands to go underground.

The band that features in the film called Take It Easy Hospital now live in London having fled their homeland. The male lead was imprisoned for 21 days for performing in a rock concert.