The Cyclist

Name: The Cyclist
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Genre: Drama
Released: 1987
Duration: 1 h 22 min
Cast: Mahshid Afsharzadeh, Firouz Kiani, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mohammadreza Maleki, Esmail Soltanian

1987 Drama 82 minutes Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

About The Cyclist

An Afghan in Iran needs money for his wife's care. Well-digging does not pay enough. A promoter sells tickets to a crowd that watches him ride a bicycle for a week. His son feeds him as he rides. Officials treat the stunt as a possible plot and try to stop him, as do people who have bet he will quit. Moharram Zaynalzadeh plays the rider. The catalog calls him Nasim. The English Wikipedia calls the role Abu Ahmed.

Cast & crew

More about The Cyclist

Mohsen Makhmalbaf wrote, directed, produced, and edited the Persian sports drama. Alireza Zarrindast photographed it. Majid Entezami composed the score. It runs 82 minutes. Mahshid Afsharzadeh and Samira Makhmalbaf are billed. The Persian title is بايسيكل‌ران. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.

Themes

A week on a bicycle
Tickets sold on a sick wife
Bets that he will fall
cyclist
Makhmalbaf
Afghan
Iran
Zaynalzadeh
promoter

Look

Alireza Zarrindast photographed the week-long ride.

Music

Majid Entezami composed the score.

Preservation

A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

The ride is a week, day and night, not a race against other cyclists.
The son feeds him without the bicycle stopping.
No festival prize is listed on the Wikidata record.

Scenes

The son feeds the rider while the bicycle keeps turning and the crowd watches the clock.

Also available

Wikimedia Commons (The Cyclist)