Towards the end of 2007, when our fears of a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran were at their peak, Make Films Not War resolved to use images and stories to continue building a cultural bridge between our two societies, even as our governments ratcheted up their language of war.

We made contact with award-winning Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (HALF MOON, TURTLES CAN FLY, A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES), and discussed how best to go about this. We decided to commission five up-and-coming Iranian filmmakers, two of them as young as 10 and 13, to produce a series of short videos on the themes of war and peace. Ghobadi's company, Tehran based MIJ Productions, co-produced.

We hope you enjoy these Video Postcards from Iran, and we encourage you to share them with your friends and family. As the political drama unfolds, and the threat of conflict remains all too real, Make Films Not War believes that we need more cultural exchange and more cross-cultural understanding to offset the efforts of those who would put us on a path to war.

About the Filmmaker:
Babak Amini, 29, was born in Iranian Kurdistan, and graduated with a major in philosophy from Tehran University. Amini has worked for many years as an Assistant Director with Bahman Ghobadi, including work on A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES and TURTLES CAN FLY.

About ‘On That Day’:
This spare film tells the story of a young Iraqi exile living in Iran, following her as she travels to Iraq to testify about Saddam's crimes against her family. The landscape is windswept and unforgiving, and her only companion is a lonely border guard, who is curious about why she wants to enter Iraq, wracked as it is by terrorist violence and the U.S. occupation. A minimalist but affecting musical score adds to the scene, as does the expansive countryside, all building up to a surprising end.

Director: Babak Amini
Screenwriter: Babak Amini
Cast: Iraqi Woman- Golnar Fallahian, Border Patrol- Behnam Amini
Director of Photography: Meisam Riahi
Edited by: Hamid Reza Ghorbani
Sound Recorder: Vahid Hajilooi
Sound Designer: Meisam Riahi
Assistant Director: Rana Fallahian
Camera Assistant: Shaho Shahbazian
Sound Assistant: Shahram Ahmadian
Set Photographer: Sonya Khateri
Subtitles: Shabnam Mojtahedi
Production Team: Mohammad Khateri, Javad Ghobadi, Mohammad Rostami