Iranian films are kept at a distance, as 'other, ' different and exotic. While interest in this cinema is growing, it is rarely engaged theoretically. This book takes such films as Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, Meshkini's The Day I Became a Woman, and Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly, as philosophically innovative. Each chapter is devoted to analyzing a single film, philosopher, and aesthetic question to challenge traditional assumptions of film theory