I was scrolling through Facebook the other day, and as some readers know, I have a lot of Iranian friends and colleagues from my undergraduate days when I conducted research in Tehran and Esfahan.  Well, one of them happened to post a deal that is simply too good to not share with you: a website dedicated to Iranian cinema has a special deal making all its films free for 90 days.

Iran’s cinema tradition dates back decades, but since the Iranian Revolution has truly come into its own as a source of spectacular art films that shed fantastic insights on the human experience.  Because the arts are heavily funded and supported in Iran, directors and filmmakers have a lot of support when it comes to making their films.  At the same time, because of the censors, they must use incredible nuance and subtlety to convey their stories.

Thus, Iran’s film industry has managed to produce incredible stories that don’t hit you over the head with moralism or storytelling.  Rather, they require you to watch and infer; the age-old adage of “show, don’t tell” rings true.  It provides social commentary of incredible depth simply by showing people living their daily lives without any editorializing.  Today, Iran’s art cinema is considered one of the most important in the world, and it has won two of the past six Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

This is a key reason why I’m so excited about this offer that popped up on Facebook.  It turns out that a website called IMVBox is offering a free 90 day membership for people who are interested in exploring this incredible wealth of films.  They have over 1,100 films of which 70% have English subtitles.  Here’s the details of the offer:

I don’t think they have all of the biggest, most famous films like A Separation, Children of Heaven, A Taste of Cherry, and No One Knows About Persian Cats, but if you’re looking for new cinema to explore, then look no further!  I hope you all have a chance to watch at least one or two of the films over there.

By the way – this post is not sponsored or affiliate marketing or anything.  I just think that this is a great opportunity for people to learn something new, explore a new culture, and see some great films!