Children of Heaven

Ali, a boy from a poor family in Tehran, loses the only pair of shoes his younger sister Zahra owns while bringing them home from the cobbler. Fearing their parents' reaction and aware of how little money the household has, the two children keep the loss to themselves. Since Zahra cannot attend school barefoot, they work out a private arrangement: brother and sister take turns wearing Ali's own sneakers, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Keeping the secret proves difficult, and the schedule strains them both, until Ali learns of a school race whose prize is a new pair of shoes.

Majid Majidi directed and wrote the film, which was released in 1997 and runs 88 minutes. It was produced by Amir Esfandiari and Mohammad Esfandiari, with Kanoon among the production companies. Amir Farrokh Hashemian plays Ali and Bahare Seddiqi plays Zahra, alongside Reza Naji, Fereshte Sarabandi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi and Kamal Mirkarimi. It was Majidi's first feature in the chronological list of his work, followed years later by Persian Carpet and Midday Meal.

Audiences rate the film highly, with 8.2 out of 10 on IMDb from nearly 79,000 votes and 7.9 out of 10 on TMDB from several hundred. A critics' rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 30 reviews places it close to those audience scores, suggesting broad agreement about the film's quality.