Children of Heaven is a 1997 Iranian family drama film written and directed by Majid Majidi. It deals with a brother and sister and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes. The film was shot in Tehran. It was attempted to keep the filming secret in order to capture a more realistic image of the city.
It was premiered in February 1997 at the Tehran Fajr Film Festival and was awarded several national film awards. And was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998.
(Source - Wikipedia)
My Sister's Shoes ( Screenplay of the film 'Children of Heaven)
Film Review
The film begins with Ali (Amir Farrokh Hashemian) seen fetching his little sister Zahra's (Bahare Seddiqi), pink shoes after a cobbler repairs them. He leaves them unattended to buy some potatoes. While he is preoccupied, a junk collector picks up the shoes, hidden in a bag, thinking it as garbage and takes them away. In a frantic effort to find them, the young boy thinks that the shoes fell behind the crates and knocks over the plates of vegetables, and is chased away by the grocer.
Ali's family South Tehran neighbourhood, and as they are having financial troubles, he was hesitant to tell his parents about the mishap. The landlord argues with Ali's mother (Fereshte Sarabandi) because she had not paid the rent for five months and the grocer has not been paid off either. Ali tells Zahta about the shoes and begs her not to tell their mother. She agrees. That night, Ali's father (Reza Naji) scolds him for not helping his ill mother. While the siblings were doing their homework, they pass notes to each other discussing what to do next. They devise a scheme to share Ali's sneakers: Zahra could wear them to school in the morning and return them to Ali at midday so that he could attend afternoon classes. Ali fares well in a class test and his teacher (Dariush Mokhtari) gifts him with a gold-coloured pen; he gives it to Zahra to partially make up for the loss of her shoes. However, the uncomfortable arrangement between him and his sister leads to Ali being late three times in a row, no matter how hard he runs; the first time the principal ignores him, the second time he gives him a warning and the third time he asks Ali to leave and return with his father who is at work trying to make money. Ali's teacher (Dariush Mokhtari) noticing Ali's tears, persuades the principal to give him one more chance and let him go back into the class.
One day, Zahra notices her missing pink shoes on another student, Roya's (Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi), feet. After the class, Zahra secretly follows Roya home. She later brings Ali with her for a confrontation, but when they discover that Roya's father (Mohammed-Hasan Hosseinian), the junk collector, is blind, they decide to leave the place. When Roya does well in her studies, her father buys her new blue shoes and throws away Zahra's. Zahra is dismayed when she finds out it from her new friend.
Ali's father, anxious to earn more money, borrows some gardening equipment and heads off with Ali to the rich suburbs of North Tehran to find some gardening work. They travelled many places without any success, though Ali proved to be of great help to his tongue-tied father. Finally, they came upon a mansion in which a six-year-old boy named Alireza (Mohammed-Hossein Shahidi) lived under the care of his grandfather (Kazem Asqarpoor). While Ali played with Alireza, his father worked. Ali's father was surprised and elated by the generosity of Alireza's grandfather. On the way home, when Ali mentions in passing that Zahra could use a new pair of shoes, his father agrees with him.
However, their elation is short-lived as their bicycle's brakes fail and the father is injured in the resulting crash.
Finally, Ali learns about a high-profile four-kilometre footrace for children; the third prize was one-week vacation camp and a pair of sneakers, To his bitter disappointment, in a hard-fought dash to the finish, he accidentally becomes first instead. Ali returns home where Zahra is waiting for him. However,
before he can reveal to his sister his disappointment in his placement in the race, she is called away by their mother.
In a separate scene, there is a quick shot of the children's father's bicycle as he's riding home, showing a pair of white and a pair of pink shoes among his purchases. In the final shot, Ali is dejected as his sneakers are torn from the race-he is then shown dipping his bare blistered feet in a pool. Some versions include an epilogue that shows Ali becoming successful in a racing career.
First Bell Online Class - 20 - 26 August 2021PROFILE
MAJID MAJIDI
Majid Majidi (born 17 April 1959) is an Iranian film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He
has directed several feature films including The Color of Paradise (1999), Baran (2001) and The Willow Tree (2005). In 1998, Majidi directed the film Children of Heaven, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This is the first Iranian film to have been nominated by the Academy.
SHOT - In filmmaking and video production, a shot is a series of frames that runs for an uninterrupted period of time.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SHOTS, CAMERA ANGLES, CAMERA MOVEMENTS CONTAIN IN THIS SINGLE VIDEO
SCRIPT OF THE FILM 'CHILDREN OF HEAVEN'
THINGS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A FILM
DISCUSSION ON THE SCREENPLAY- MY SISTER'S SHOES
SCENE 1
SETTING - Cobbler's shop
SHOT - Cobbler stitching the shoes, Ali watching the cobbler mending the shoe. Ali receives the shoes and pays 30 toumans to the cobbler.
CHARACTERS - Ali and the Cobbler.
Cut to the street outside
SETTING - Outside Cobbler's shop, the street, the home nearby with curtain as doors
SHOT - A man with a parcel under his arm walks up to the curtained door, lifts the curtain and goes in, as Ali comes out of the cobbler's shop, putting the shoes into a small black bag in his hand, walks down the street and moves out of the frame on the left.
CHARACTERS - Ali and the Cobbler and another man with a parcel walking.
SCENE 2
SETTING - Inside the bakery
SHOT - shots of bread being baked- Ali picking up the nan dropped by the cook and stacking them on a cloth spread on a wooden plank. Ali and three cooks sitting around the stove, kneading, and putting it inside the stove.
CHARACTERS - Ali and three cooks.
SCENE 3
SETTING - The Footpath Outside the Bakery
SHOT - A small group of men are waiting in a queue outside the bakery to buy nan. The outline of buildings in the street is seen in the distance. Ali is seen coming out from the bakery into the footpath, the parcel of nan in his right hand and the parcel of shoes in his left. He crosses the pavement.
CHARACTERS - Ali and three cooks, A small group of men.
Cut to view of the shop from the pavement.
SETTING - Outside the vegetable shop - He places the bundle of nan on top of a pile of boxes of
vegetables stacked in front of the shop and the bag of shoes in the small gap between two boxes.
-------Dialogue-------
SHOT - Akbar, the shopkeeper gives Ali a small black bag to put potatoes in. Ali starts picking the large, wholesome potatoes in a box at the top of the heap.
CHARACTERS - Ali and Akbar (the shopkeeper)
First Bell Online Class - 21 - 2 September 2021
Cut to view of the shop from the pavement.
SETTING - Outside the vegetable shop - A man pushing a handcart filled with junk enters the
frame from the right and stops in front of the shop.
-------Dialogue-------
SHOT - The junk collector picks up bundles of used polythene bags lying scattered on the floor near the boxes of vegetables and throws them into the cart. He sees Ali's parcel of shoes. Taking it for junk, he picks it up and puts it in the cart.
CHARACTERS - Ali and Akbar (the shopkeeper) and the junk collector. The junk collector leaves.
Cut to view from inside the shop.
SETTING - Akbar is on the left edge of the frame counting money.
SHOT - Ali finishes filling the bag and hands it to Akbar for weighing. Akbar holds the bag in his hand to feel the weight for a moment and hands it back to Ali.
-------Dialogue-------
CHARACTERS - Ali and Akbar (the shopkeeper)
Cut to view from outside the shop.
SETTING - Akbar is on the left edge of the frame counting money.
SHOT - Ali goes to the pile of boxes in front of the shop and picks the bundle of nan and then looks for the bag of shoes. Unable to find it, he places the bag of nan atop the vegetable boxes and begins to search underneath.
First he puts his hand and then his head in the gap between the boxes of vegetables, which upsets them all. The vegetable boxes tumble and vegetables scatter on the ground. On hearing the sound, Akbar comes out.
-------Dialogue-------
CHARACTERS - Ali and Akbar (the shopkeeper)
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1. What do you mean by the word junk?
Answer -Thrash or garbage - a waste material
2. Prepare a character sketch of Akbar,
Hints - very angry, kind but strict.........
3. What makes Akbar angry?
Answer: While searching for the parcel of shoes, Ali upsets the boxes and vegetables scatter on
the ground makes Akbar angry.
3. Describe the Location of the scene.
Answer - the footpath outside the vegetable shop.............
4. Arrange the events in the right sequential order.
* Ali searches for the shoes and the vegetables scatter.
* Ali collects potatoes.
* The junk collector collects waste.
* Ali enters a vegetable store.
* He accidentally collects Ali's parcel of shoes.
* Akbar gets annoyed and shouts at Ali.
Answer
* Ali enters a vegetable store.
* Ali collects potatoes.
* The junk collector collects waste.
* He accidentally collects Ali's parcel of shoes.
* Ali searches for the shoes and the vegetables scatter.
* Akbar gets annoyed and shouts at Ali.
Assignment -
Prepare a likely conversation between Ali and his friend after he had lost his sister's shoes.
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First Bell Online Class - 22 - 7 September 2021Events in the Story
* Ali at the cobbler’s shop
* Ali leaves the shop and enters a bakery
* He picks up the nan dropped by the cook and stacks them on a cloth,
* Ali enters a vegetable store.
* Ali collects potatoes.
* The junk collector collects waste.
* He accidentally collects Ali's parcel of shoes.
* Ali searches for the shoes and the vegetables scatter.
* Akbar gets annoyed and shouts at Ali.
1. What is the soul of a movie?
Answer -
SCENE 4
SETTING - Ali's house
SHOT - Middle distance shot of Ali and his sister Zahra reading their textbooks kneeling on the mattress. A baby's cry is heard faintly on the soundtrack. The camera closes in on Zahra who is writing in a notebook (mumbling the words as she writes)
-------Dialogue-------
Cut to
Middle distance shot of Mother lying on a bed, towards the left of the frame, leaning back against two propped-up pillows. Father is sitting on a chair beyond the bed near the wall, chopping wooden flints with a hammer on a block.
-------Dialogue-------
Cut to
Close up of Ali reading from the book Zahra has passed on to him. Mother and father (offscreen)
CHARACTERS - Ali, Zahara, their father and mother.
1. Is Ali nervous?
Answer: Yes, Ali is very nervous.
2. What solution does Ali suggest?
Answer: Ali suggests that Zahara can use his sneakers.
3. Identify the soundtracks and specify the different scenes.
Answer: (a) The sound of the child crying.
(b) The sound of Ali and Zahara whispering.
(c) The sound of the hammer.
4. Where is the location shifted to?
Answer: The location is shifted to Ali's house.
5. Who are the other characters.
Answer: The other characters are Ali's sister, Zahara, and their parents.
6. What are they discussing?
Answer: They are discussing their financial problem and difficulty in seeing a doctor.
7. What impression do you get about the financial status of Ali's family? Support your answer with the evidence from the script.
Answer: Ali's family is financially poor. We understand it when Akbar mentions their account limit and also from Ali's conversation in the vegetable shop. Their parent's conversation also proves this.
8. What interesting strategy does the director make use of in presenting the 'talks' between Ali and his sister.
Answer: Ali and Zahara are passing their notebooks. They want to keep the news secret.
Assignment: Prepare a short film on any one of the topics
Child Labour
Wasting Food
Safe Driving
Animal Protection
Save earth
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