Mohammad Rasoulof’s The White Meadows is a mesmeric, discomforting journey through a bleached-white landscape of barren salt marshes. Defying any genre, this fable-like tale follows the odyssey of a man who sets out by boat across an archipelago of stark, inhospitable islands on a nameless sea. The film’s narrative floats behind the character of Rahmat as he makes his mysterious rounds by rowboat on Lake Urmia, the largest lake in the Middle-East.

Drawing first-hand on the challenges faced by Iranian artists of today, this deeply atmospheric, poetic film is a stark allegory of intolerance, brutality and mystified routine which resonates far beyond the borders of any one state.

In December 2010, Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to prison, along with his editor—Iranian director Jafar Panahi - for making this, as well as other films.

The White Meadows is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2011 film series. For more information, visit globalfilm.org.