Trial (2003)

A mother angrily warns her daughter against making a movie; the daughter is determined to join a secret group of actors and filmmakers waiting in a van. In the village of Khosro, near Tehran, people work at a brick kiln, but amateur filmmaking gives them purpose. That purpose vanished when the authorities shut down the project and imprisoned writer-director Ali Matini. Now, most villagers avoid the film group for fear of arrest. But Matini and his team secretly make one last film, allowing director Moslem Mansouri (a former political prisoner) to document their work and bravery. Using a donkey as a dolly, the crew jokes about their unconventional methods. Matini poignantly declares, "Our life is what Kafka described... We are hanging from the gallows of cinema."