Turtles can fly.

Original title: Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand

Director/Writer:  Bahman Ghobadi

Year: 2004

Running time: 97 minutes

Genre: Drama/ War

Production: Mij Film Co.

Characters:

Cast

Cast overview:
	Soran Ebrahim	...	Satellite
	Avaz Latif	...	Agrin
	Saddam Hossein Feysal	...	Pashow
	Hiresh Feysal Rahman	...	Hengov
	Abdol Rahman Karim	...	Riga
	Ajil Zibari	...	Shirkooh

Satellite: main character. Young boy who has assumed the role of leader at a very young age. He tries to do the best for his village.

Agrin: she was raped when she was 12 and as a consecuence, she gave birth to her son, a blind little boy. She's always trying either to murder her son or either to kill herself.

Pashow: Satellite's best friend. He is always following him around. He lost a leg due to an antipersonnel mine.

Hengov: Agrin's brother. He has the "gift" of clairvoyance, which means he can see what is going to happen in the future and he's always trying to warn the others of this.

Riga: unwanted child. He is Agrin's son, the result of her rape experience. He is drowned by his mother at the end of the film.

Theme:

Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak gauge and await their fate.

Plot:

The film is set in the Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq. Thirteen-year-old Satellite (Soran Ebrahim) is known for his installation of dishes and antennae for local villages who are looking for news of Saddam Hussein and for his limited knowledge of English. He is the dynamic, but manipulative leader of the children, organizing the dangerous but necessary sweeping and clearing of the minefields.

The industrious Satellite arranges trade-ins for un-detonated mines. He falls for an orphan named Agrin, a sad-faced girl traveling with her disabled, but smart brother Hengov, who appears to have the gift of clairvoyance, making people think he can predict the future. The siblings care for a blind toddler named Riga, who Agrin gave birth to after she was gang raped by Iraqi Arab soldiers. In Agrin and Hengov's village, the girls had been killed after being raped, while the boys and their families had been killed as well. Hengov's arms had been shot and soldiers attempted to drown both children. Because of these circumstances, Agrin is unable to reciprocate Satellite's feelings for her.

Agrin tries to kill the child on multiple occasions, then she ties him to a rock and throws him to the bottom of the lake. When her brother sees in his dream that Riga is drowning, he hurries out of the tent crying and tries to save him. Meanwhile, Agrin commits suicide.

Main topic:

The main topic of this film are the antipersonnel mines and how a simple group of children are given the hard and unfair task of picking them up in order to get some money for their families.

Anti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines, the latter may or may not be bounding mines.

The mines are often designed to injure, not kill, victims in order to increase the logistical (mostly medical) support required by enemy forces that encounter them. Some types of anti-personnel mines can also damage the tracks on armoured vehicles or the tires of wheeled vehicles.

Awards:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina 2006

Nominated Award of the Argentinean Academy

Best Foreign Film Bahman Ghobadi Iran.

Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards 2007

Nominated Silver Condor

Best Foreign Film, Not in the Spanish Language (Mejor Película Extranjera) Bahman Ghobadi Iran/France/Iraq.

Berlin International Film Festival 2005

Won Crystal Bear - Special Mention	14plus: Best Feature Film Bahman Ghobadi
Won Peace Film Award	Bahman Ghobadi

Camerimage 2004

Nominated Golden Frog

Shahriar Assadi

Chicago International Film Festival 2004

Won Silver Hugo

Jury Special Prize Bahman Ghobadi (director)

Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival 2005

Won Golden Dolphin

Bahman Ghobadi

Fribourg International Film Festival 2005

Won Audience Award	Bahman Ghobadi
Won E-Changer Award	Bahman Ghobadi
Nominated Grand Prix	Bahman Ghobadi

Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival 2004

Won President Award

Humanitarian Award Bahman Ghobadi

Isfahan International Festival of Films for Children & Young Adults 2004

Won Golden Butterfly

Best Film Bahman Ghobadi

Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival 2005

Won Audience Award	Best Narrative Feature Bahman Ghobadi
Won Festival Award	Best Film Bahman Ghobadi

NatFilm Festival 2005

Won Audience Award

Bahman Ghobadi

Rotterdam International Film Festival 2005

Won Audience Award

Bahman Ghobadi

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2005

Won Audience Award

Best Narrative Bahman Ghobadi

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2004

Won CEC Award for Best Film	Bahman Ghobadi
Won Golden Seashell	Bahman Ghobadi

Satellite Awards 2005

Nominated Satellite Award

Outstanding Motion Picture, Foreign Film

São Paulo International Film Festival 2004

Won Audience Award	Best Fiction Film Bahman Ghobadi
Won International Jury Award - Honorable Mention	Bahman Ghobadi
Nominated International Jury Award	Bahman Ghobadi

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2005

Won Just Film Award - Special Mention

Youth Jury Bahman Ghobadi

Tbilisi International Film Festival 2005

Won Golden Prometheus

Best Film Bahman Ghobadi

Tokyo FILMeX 2004

Won Audience Award	Bahman Ghobadi
Won Special Jury Prize	Bahman Ghobadi A powerful and urgent vision of war and its effects on the people caught in its midst, especially ... More
Nominated Grand Prize	Bahman Ghobadi

Tromsø International Film Festival 2005

Won Aurora Award

Bahman Ghobadi