Few films have captured the heady mix of religion and devotion in Iran and Iraq as well as Bahman Kiarostami's Pilgrimage (Ziarak) (52 mins). Kiarostami (son of director Abbas) offers a fly-on-the-wall look at a border town where Iranian pilgrims illegally enter Iraq on their way to the holy city of Karbala. Kiarostami presents no voiceover, no introduction; instead, we have just the camera, surrounded by swirling dust, extreme heat, and the chaotic noise of the devout, the corrupt, the officious, and the exhausted. Interviews with pilgrims reveal their commitment to religion, while interviews with “official” religious figures expose their less religious, more bureaucratic, and possibly inhumane lack of commitment. The believers may be suffering a hell on earth, Pilgrimage implies, but their leaders push papers in an air-conditioned paradise. The calm to Pilgrimage's storm, Kamancheh (46 mins) celebrates the soaring beauty of Iranian classical music by spotlighting one instrument, the kamancheh. Interviews with such renowned artists as Kayhan Kalhor, Reza Derakshani, and Taqi Shekarchian highlight the kamancheh's place in Iranian culture, while their performances capture its otherworldly sound. “It seems to come from a far distance and a far time,” Kalhor says, “and reach into parts of your soul that you haven't encountered before.”