Breaking rock music from the rigours of Islam proves a perilous voyage of discovery...

In a society where NME is a treasured luxury; electricity is scare; female singers are banned; movies and alcohol consumption are against Islamic law; parties require code words; musicians face two months imprisonment for playing, and even dogs are confined to the house, two young musicians dream of fleeing this oppressive land to play the ultimate gig.

Award-winning Iranian Director Bahman Ghobadib returns to his passion for music in his fifth feature, No-One Knows About Persian Cats, a “documentary fiction about underground music”.

Negar and Ashkan's band have fallen apart and they need two bassists, a drummer and extortionately expensive passports/visas to play in a place music is heard and not hidden – London.

Introduced to Nader, the bootlegger, who has connections at the Censorship Bureau, their hopes are raised after he takes an interest in them. Keen to become their agent, Nedar's catchphrase is “no problem” and he optimistically promises to distribute their album on the black market so all of Tehran hears it.

Needing a demo album of four English songs and one Persian, and keen to play one Tehran gig before leaving, the trio spend much of the film biking around and climbing ladders to unlikely well-concealed venues. Although music is supposed to “knock the door down”, our heroes are seen attending rooftop practices where they have to wait for neighbours to depart to avoid police tip-offs and walls and drums are blanket sound-proofed – one band they meet have all their instruments confiscated, despite playing three floors underground.

Their search for replacement musicians leads them to a sultry female backing singer, a heavy metal band risking Hepatitis by serenading cows; a private house concert by two sisters; the subway and a secluded woodland gig. Each artist introduced highlights the resourceful nature of these Iranian musicians, who are forced to meet secretly and whose spirits aren't crushed despite the adversities they face that they clearly explore in their lyrics: “The fences around your mind cannot contain me”, “The sound of a voiceless city”, “Stuck at the crossroads – a tired drifter”...

Through Negar and Ashkan's search for musicians, viewers are given a sense of different styles and underground “scenes”. Beautiful shots of the city by night reveal some of Tehran's poverty and homelessness. What is most amazing is Ghobadi's ability to capture the miraculous optimism and good-humour that prevails despite all the challenges the people of Tehran face: “The main thing is we'll be together playing music.”

No-One Knows About Persian Cats is a pastiche of music video-styled footage strung together, showing life in Tehran and the different people who live there, creating vivid picture postcard snapshots. A great bike wheelie montage, moody harmonica song and a passport purchasing scene leave lasting impressions but the final song that accompanies the shocking conclusion is what'll haunt you.

Special Features

● Image Gallery
● Theatrical Trailer
● An Interview With Negar Sheghaghi and Ashkan Koshanejad
● Behind the scenes 53 minute featurette

The interview with the two leads answers all the main burning questions while the featurette combines comments from the Director, the Sound Engineer, the Director of Photography, the Cameraman and the Screenwriter. Through their contributions, insight is given into the acquisition of technology; the 10-12 hour working days; filming hurdles overcome; unmodified locations; the cast ratio of professional actors to musicians; line rehearsal techniques; the use of improv and extras; the few camera effects created; sound mixing and how the ending was concealed from the cast.

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Writer: Bahman Ghobadi, Hossein Mortezaeiyan
DVD release date: July 26 2010
Studio: Network Releasing
Number of discs:1
Price: £15.99
Running time: 103 mins
Certificate: 12
Starring: Negar Sheghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad

No-One Knows About Persian Cats is out now.

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