SGS Summer Film Festival: Cafe Transit
Event media
This year the Stanford Global Studies Summer Film Festival will be held virtually. Join us from your home as we watch seven films from around the world that focus on the theme “Feeding your Soul.”
The Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies invites you to watch Cafe Transit from home at a time that works for your schedule, then join us on Zoom for a post-screening discussion with actress Fereshteh Sadreorafaei. Please RSVP to receive the Zoom information.
Please note the film may require a fee to rent or a streaming service subscription to view. Check your local library for library-provided streaming service options.
Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Border-Cafe-Transit-English-Subtitled/dp/B00TYP23L6
About the film
Written and directed by Kambuzia Partovi (2005). Watch the trailer here.
Synopsis: In a village near Iran's border with Turkey, Reyhan (Fereshteh Sadreorafaei), a young woman with two children, faces a difficult choice when her husband dies. Instead of marrying her brother-in-law (Parviz Parastoei), as required by traditional law, she chooses to support her family by reopening her late husband's restaurant.
About Fereshteh Sadreorafaei
Fereshteh Sadreorafaei was born in Tehran, Iran in 1962. From a young age, she attended the Children and Adolescents' Intellectual Development Center. There, she studied theater and puppetry and staged several puppet shows. From 1974-1976, she was a student at Pars National Ballet under the supervision of Abdullah Nazemi.
Due to the Iranian Revolution and closure of universities, she was unable to acquire a university education. During which time she got married and started a family. She worked as a puppet actress in a children’s TV series, using what she learned from the Intellectual Development Center.
Her first professional theater performance was in 1983, followed by her debut in cinema in 1985.
She went on to narrate and puppeteer in 17 series and films, directed four TV series for children and teenagers, acted in 20 films, and acted in one unreleased TV series. She has collaborated with directors such as Jafar Panahi, Kambozia Partovi, Reza Mirkarimi, Abdolreza Kahani, Mohammad Rasoulov, Maziar Miri, Narges Abyar, Massoud Bakhshi and, in her latest film Ghahraman, Asghar Farhadi.
She has been nominated for and received numerous awards, including several for Café Transit.