Head Wind

Television in Iran offers only state-approved news and entertainment programs, which is why so much of the population turns to black market solutions to enrich their TV viewing options. This eye-opening documentary follows a diverse cross-section of the Iranian population - from Tehran urbanites to rural farmers to nomadic herders - who use pirated cable and satellite equipment to watch unapproved media like American television, Bollywood movies, European football and international news broadcasts. Mohammad Rasoulof burnished his reputation as a daring filmmaker-activist with this compact and engrossing look at how censorship breeds curiosity, and how technology enables the oppressed to satiate their unquenchable thirst for information.