Koudak va sarbaz, known as "The Child and the Soldier" in English, is one of many Iranian films on my wish list. The filmmakers of this country have produced many superb stories with very engaging children as their leads. Since most of the performers are non-professional, names and background info is hard to come by. This film is no exception. I have yet to figure out which performer is the boy. The synopsis below comes from the Taos Film Festival. The picture from the Farabi Cinema Foundation.

On the last day of the year a young Iranian soldier in a remote outpost is just about to go on leave to visit his parents. But his commander gives him one last assignment: escort an uncommunicative, angry juvenile delinquent from the base to a Tehran reform school. And so the journey begins, though awkwardly at first. Neither wants the other's company; each of them is wary and on guard. But when the soldier stops off at his parents village and his young ward is mistaken as an honored guest, a bond between these two unlikely travelers develops and changes both of their lives forever. Using nonprofessional actors and adapted from Gianni Amelio's book Stolen Children, this touching coming-of-age story is an example of some of the finest filmmaking coming out of Iran. Unadorned, straightforward, and beautifully constructed, Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi's The Child and the Soldier is part of a global movement to reclaim cinema from the blockbuster and return it to its storytelling roots.
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Love,
Sir J

Thanks SJ

Does anyone know the name of the boy actor?