Radio Dreams

2016, 91 minutes
USA

Language: Farsi, English, Dari, and Assyrian with English subtitles.

Director: Babak Jalali

Cast: Bella Ramezanian, Keyumars Hakim, Zahra Rezai Afsah, and Mohsen Namjoo

Radio Dreams, winner of the 45th Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Tiger Award, creates the odd yet very real world of PARS-FM – a Farsi radio station broadcasting from the heart of San Francisco. The story unfolds over a single day as the station’s program manager, Hamid – a brilliant, misunderstood Iranian writer (played by the “Iranian Bob Dylan” Mohsen Namjoo) – prepares for a triumphant broadcast – a live performance pairing Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan’s first rock band. Meanwhile, Hamid must juggle a dysfunctional mix of on-air talent, station managers, and performers while fending off the owner’s plans to wrest control of the station.
 
Radio Dreams brings to life the sometimes bizarre experience of immigrants pursuing dreams in the U.S. with a perfect mixture of honesty, art, and socio-political topicality served up in an ingenious, offbeat transmission.
 
Radio Dreams is the newest feature film from Iranian-British director Babak Jalali (Frontier Blues).