The Koker trilogy / three films by Abbas Kiarostami.

Where is the friend's house?: A boy searches for the home of his classmate, whose school notebook he has accidentally taken -- and transforms it into a miraculous child's-eye adventure of the everyday.

And life goes on: In the aftermath of the 1990 earthquake in Iran that left fifty thousand dead, Abbas Kiarostami returned to Koker, where his camera surveys not only devastation but also the teeming life in its wake. Blending fiction and reality into a playful, poignant road movie, the film follows a film director who, along with his son, makes the trek to the region in hopes of finding out if the young boys who acted in Where Is the Friend's House? are among the survivors, and discovers a resilient community pressing on in the face of tragedy.

Abbas Kiarostami first came to international attention for his wondrous, slyly self-referential trilogy of films set in the rural Iranian town of Koker. Poised delicately between fiction and documentary, comedy and tragedy, these lyrical fables exemplify both the gentle humanism and playful sleight of hand that defines the director's sensibility. Films include: Where Is The Friend's House? (1987); And Life Goes On (1992); Through The Olive Trees (1994).

Through the olive trees: A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On. Unfolding behind the scenes, this film traces the complications that arise when the romantic misfortune of one of the actors -- a young man who pines for the woman cast as his wife, even though, in real life, she will have nothing to do with him -- creates turmoil on set and leaves the hapless director caught in the middle.

MPAA rating: Not rated.

Where is the friend's house?: Babek Ahmadpour, Ahmad Ahmadpour, Kheda Barech Defai, Iran Outari.

And life goes on: Farhad Kheradmand, Pouya Payvar, Hossein Rezai.

Through the olive trees: Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai.