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The Sealed Soil

(Khak-e sar bé mohr, Marva Nabili, 1977)

New Restoration

Info & Tickets

A woman is standing under the arch of a very old looking building. She is balancing a tray and bowl on her head.

Feb 23, 2025 4:00 PM

Film/Video Theater

$8 members and adults 55 and over
$10 general public
$5 students

FESTIVAL PASS
Admission to all Cinema Revival screenings
$30 members and adults 55 and over
$42 general public
$15 students

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Experience a quiet act of resistance in the earliest surviving feature directed by an Iranian woman.

The Sealed Soil follows a young woman living in a poor village who must prepare to move her household after a state-directed construction project is announced. Her life is one of repetitive monotony, made more insufferable by her family’s desire for her to submit to an arranged marriage. A tale of quiet feminist resistance, the film has never screened legally in Iran, and Nabili had to smuggle the footage out of the country and finished editing it in New York. (90 mins., 4K DCP)

See the complete 2025 Cinema Revival lineup.

IMAGE CAPTION
The Sealed Soil, courtesy of Arbelos Films.

Tag(s)

Digitally restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive with funding provided by the Golden Globe Foundation, Century Arts Foundation, Farhang Foundation, and Mark Amin. Restored from the 16mm original A/B negatives, color reversal internegative, magnetic track, and optical track negative. Laboratory services by Illuminate Hollywood, Corpus Fluxus, Endpoint Audio Labs, Audio Mechanics, and Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Thomas Fucci, Marva Nabili, and Garineh Nazarian.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Ohio Humanities

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Mellon Foundation
Every Page Foundation
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc
Nationwide Foundation
Lois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Axium Packaging