History Film / TheWhiteBalloon

Other than Cannes, the film is Iran's entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film in the 68th Academy Awards]] and made international news not because it won the award (it didn't) but because [[ResignationsNotAccepted the jury refused to follow the Iranian government's attempt to withdraw it]].

A 1995 [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Iranian]] children's film and the directorial debut of Jafar Panahi, who won the 18th Caméra d'Or/best feature debut at Cannes for this film. It was written by Panahi's mentor Creator/AbbasKiarostami.

* DramaticIrony: [[spoiler: At the end, the owner of the shop where the bill fell down urges the Afghan Boy to come home. The boy simply sits and ponders. He doesn't know that the latter came from, well, [[CaptainObvious Afghanistan]], which in 1995 is currently mired in a civil war that would end with a nightmarish theocracy.]]

* BlackVikings: The Afghan Boy has features (specifically, the epicanthic folds) that would remind the audience of an East Asian person, rather than a Caucasian. This is not an error in the casting department; Afghanistan is a crossroad region for many cultures, with people from various different races mixing and intermingling for millennia.

Other than Cannes, the film is Iran's entry for the 68th Oscar for Best Foreign Film and made international news not because it won the award (it didn't) but because [[ResignationsNotAccepted the jury refused to follow the Iranian government's attempt to withdraw it]].

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Razieh can't walk for a minute without focusing on something that she has never seen or is forbidden to see. Her curiousness actually is what causes her to lose the 500 toman bill in the first place. Justified, as she's still a child.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Ali, who despite frequently calling Razieh troublesome contributes the most during their quest to get back her 500 toman bill. And the aforementioned bill is given to Razieh in the first place because Ali manages to convince their mother in lieu of buying him new shoes. Plus, when he fetches her after the bill is lost for the second time, there's no indication that their parents are responsible for tasking him, as he doesn't mention them; he could very well be genuinely worried that she doesn't return on time.

* BlackVikings: The Afghan Boy has features (specifically, the epicanthic folds) that would remind the audience of an East Asian, rather than a Caucasian. This is not an error in the casting department; there are many people in the region who have such features, in particular, the Turks of Central Asia, who do in fact look a lot like East Asians. The boy might have been a Turk, or more likely, the Mongol-descended [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazaras Hazara]].

A 1995 [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Iranian]] children's film and the directorial debut of Jafar Panahi, who won the 18th Caméra d'Or/best feature debut at Cannes for this film. It was written by Panahi's mentor Creator/AbbasKiarostami. The film is an uplifting story about a girl who wants to buy a pretty goldfish for the Iranian New Year, Nowruz. In the process, she has to go through difficulty after difficulty as everyone is simply too preoccupied for the festival's preparation. Other than Cannes, the film is Iran's entry for the 68th Oscar for Best Foreign Film and made international news not because it won the award (it didn't) but because [[ResignationsNotAccepted the jury refused to follow the Iranian government's attempt to withdraw it]].

* BigBrotherInstinct: Ali, who despite frequently calling Razieh troublesome contributes the most during their quest to get back her 500 toman bill. And the aforementioned bill is given to Razieh in the first place because Ali manages to convince their mother in lieu of buying him new shoes. Plus, when the he fetches her after the bill is lost for the second time, there's no indication that their parents are responsible for tasking him, as he doesn't mention them; he could very well be genuinely worried that she doesn't return on time.

* BlackVikings: The Afghan Boy has features (specifically, the epicanthic folds) that would remind the audience of an East Asian, rather than a Caucasian. This is not an error in the casting department; there are many people in the region who have such features, in particular the Turks of Central Asia, who do in fact look a lot like East Asians. The boy might have been a Turk, or more likely, the Mongol-descended [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazaras Hazara]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Every important character that would play role later on can be spotted during the market scene at the start. In fact, the balloon seller [[spoiler: who helps Razieh get the money]] interacts with Zahra a little bit, possibly to tell her where Razieh is.

* FishOutOfWater: The army man hails from a close-knit community and now has to work at a metropolitan area where individuality persists.

* NiceGuy: The army man, who sincerely wants to help Razieh get the the bill, even offering food and sharing stories about his family back home with her. Unfortunately, the way he does the talking (approaching her while the streets are empty) gives her a bad impression, though she calms down enough for her to wave him off when he leaves.

A 1995 [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Iranian]] children's film and the directorial debut of Jafar Panahi, who won the 18th Caméra d'Or/best feature debut at Cannes for this film. The film is an uplifting story about a girl who wants to buy a pretty goldfish for the Iranian New Year, Nowruz. In the process, she has to go through difficulty after difficulty as everyone is simply too preoccupied for the festival's preparation. Other than Cannes, the film is Iran's entry for the 68th Oscar for Best Foreign Film and made international news not because it won the award (it didn't) but because [[ResignationsNotAccepted the jury refused to follow the Iranian government's attempt to withdraw it]].