The relationship between cinema and the city provides a valuable framework for understanding the cultural dimensions of modern urban society. Urban spaces, as cinematic settings, play a crucial role in conveying temporal, cultural, historical, and social contexts, shaping the audience’s perception of the city. This study adopts a descriptive–exploratory approach to examine how Iranian cinema represents urban spaces and the nature of these representations in internationally acclaimed films. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The research samples were purposefully selected from award-winning Iranian films screened at three major international film festivals—Cannes, Berlin, and Venice—due to their significant role in shaping the global image of Iranian cinema and urban life.
The primary objective of this research is to explain the image of Iranian cities and urban spaces constructed in the minds of international audiences through these films. The study seeks to identify dominant spatial patterns, visual narratives, and thematic emphases in the cinematic portrayal of the city. The findings reveal that urban spaces depicted in most films are predominantly limited to circulation-oriented environments such as streets, roads, and transitional spaces, while lacking diverse environmental qualities and vibrant urban life. Moreover, the overall representation of the city is largely focused on social and cultural problems, resulting in a fragmented and often pessimistic urban image.
From a visual and perceptual perspective, these cinematic representations show limited capacity to convey a strong sense of place or foster emotional attachment to the urban environment. The study argues that recognizing the strengths and shortcomings of such representations can assist urban designers, planners, and filmmakers in enhancing the quality of urban spaces and contributing to the development of a more identity-oriented and culturally expressive portrayal of Iranian cities in cinema