7. The Snowman (Adam-e Barfi), Davoud Mirbagheri, 1997

This movie was a smash hit in Iran when it was released. It was actually made in 1994, but remained banned until Khatami came to power in 1997. The prominent themes of cross-dressing and the desire to travel to America were both forbidden enough to incite quite a brouhaha. Groups of young, ultraconservative militants attacked some of the theaters showing the film, but oddly, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weighed in to say he wasn't opposed to it. Even though The Snowman had circulated heavily on the black market before its 1997 release, it eventually became Iran's highest-grossing film at the time.

8. The Hidden Half (Nimeh-ye Panhan), Tahmineh Milani, 2001

Dozens of excellent women directors made their mark after the revolution, and Milani is one of my favorites. The Hidden Half follows the story of a woman who aims to convince her husband, a judge, to show mercy to a woman sentenced to death. She does this by divulging her own revolutionary activities as a member of a communist group in the 1970s. Milani faced serious legal charges after the movie's release for its depiction of the early years of the revolution, apparently even facing a death sentence. Milani has directed a number of other excellent gender-conscious films since The Hidden Half. Unfortunately, her most recent film, Cease-Fire, was an uninspiring romantic comedy about a couple heading toward divorce (Think The Break-Up without Jennifer Aniston).

9. The Lizard (Marmulak), Kamal Tabrizi, 2003

One of the funniest movies to come out of Iran in the past 30 years, The Lizard is about an imprisoned thief who escapes by donning clerical garb. As a "cleric," he is hilariously mistreated -- taxis refuse to pick him up and a young boy pretends to receive his blessing as he picks his pocket. The film was such a pop-culture sensation that young Iranians began referring to clerics on the street as "lizards." The Lizard was never officially banned, but it was pulled from theaters after several of the country's ruling clergy protested. Interesting side note: Director Tabrizi went on to produce some of the campaign videos for Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidential bid in 2005.

10. Santouri, The Music Man, Dariush Mehrjui, 2007

Although soul-crushingly depressing, this newest feature by Iranian film veteran Mehrjui is a rare examination of a major social ill plaguing Iran -- drug abuse. The tale of a talented and popular musician whose life falls apart due to his addiction to heroin, the movie even ventures into gritty shantytowns and the haunts of homeless drug addicts. Santouri was banned from public theaters in Iran after an initial screening, but is now available on DVD. Rumor has it the authorities considered the main character's battle with drugs a veiled reference to Khamenei's own purported youthful dabbling in opium.