Bermuda International Film Festival 2009

This lyrical first feature, shot in a style of documentary realism that is poignant and, at times, gently humorous, tells the intertwined stories of inhabitants of a remote fishing village in southern Iran. With no fish left in the sea, the villagers smuggle goods and sometimes people. Teenager Moto’s father has left on a smuggling trip and not yet returned. To help his pregnant mother and a sister who, it emerges, was abandoned by her husband, Moto smuggles too. This involves wild speeding boats that are beached recklessly so that silent chador-clad women can unload and hide the goods – just ahead of chasing police! Meanwhile, the middleman keeps a casual eye on Moto, while engaging in increasingly worrisome phone calls with his wife in Tehran. Just as village life is in transition, Moto is changing and maturing too. He stops waiting and fatefully decides to seek his father. Be Calm and Count to Seven is an accomplished observation of life and character that will grab your attention and tug at your heart.