Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 3, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio from Radiance Films.

Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio may well be one of the most distinctive examples of Radiance Films' curating of various international cinemas if for no other reason than the relative lack of renown for the studio's eponymous director, other than in the expected populations of "discerning cineastes". Ebrahim Golestan's biography is as fascinating as the two main features (the only two narrative features in Golestan's filmography) aggregated together (along with a bevy of shorts), but suffice it to say he was Iran's version of a Hollywood mogul like Samuel Goldwyn, founding his own studio, the first independent such operation in Iran. Rather interestingly, though, Golestan's early efforts were documentaries, including some about Iran's burgeoning oil industry, efforts which ostensibly made him a kind of quasi-propagandist for the Shah's then relatively new reign. The actual fact of the matter, as demonstrated more than capably in both Brick and Mirror and perhaps especially in Secrets of the Jinn Valley, is that Golestan was very much a revolutionary, or considering what amounted to the coup d'état which installed the Shah and ousted a democratically elected Prime Minister, an anti-revolutionary who did not suffer what had happened to his country gladly. As a supplement by Ehsan Khoshbakht in this set overtly mentions, the Shah's installation was arranged jointly by the CIA and MI6, and native Iranians have evidently never forgotten it, which may add some unexpected context to current world events.

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure is cited in supplements as being Golestan's "spit" in the face of Iran's Shah as well as his prophetic take on the downfall of that regime. But what may be of passing interest is how this film relied on a casting coup which might be like some Western director hiring Sacha Baron Cohen to transform on screen from, say, Borat into someone more like Jean Girard from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This film's star Parviz Sayyad was already a television sensation for playing a kind of Borat adjacent naïf named Samad, and in fact Sayyad's peasant in this film starts out as a bumbling innocent of sorts who discovers an underground cave full of historical artifacts worth considerable dough. That then sets both the character and, ultimately, the entire surrounding community out on a journey of increasing commercialization and what might be called the worst possible trends in capitalist greed and subterfuge. Sayyad's performance may be overly broad, something that might be true of the film as a whole, but it is definitely a forceful thumb in the eye of Golestan's perceived "imperial" targets.

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Radiance sent checks discs for purposes of this set's review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage in an insert booklet, but some prefatory text cards before the main feature offer the following information:

Restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

Restoration funding provided by Iran Heritage Foundation and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna.

Asrar-e Ganj-e Darre-ye Jenni (Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure) was the final film by Ebrahim Golestan before he permanently left Iran for England. Made between 1971 and 1972, it was not screened publicly until December 1974, and with the exception of a second run in June 1978, it was never shown in Iran again due to a post-revolutionary ban on the film.

The basis of this 4K restoration was the original camera and sound negatives discovered in Golestan's house in England.

This is Golestan's final cut of the film, most likely intended for the second run, which is shorter in length (by around 15 minutes) compared to the first version. While it closely follows the structure of the original cut, the length of some sequences has been shortened.

The restoration was completed in February 2026 under the supervision of Ehsan Khoshbakht.

Not to state the obvious, but I never saw this rarely seen film in a theater and so can't authoritatively assess the color timing, other than to say it looked just slightly yellowish to me at times, though always rather beautifully suffused. Detail levels are generally very appealing, though there is some understandable softness in some outdoor footage and some of the scenes of Hashem getting in and out of the cave. Fine detail levels on everything from the contemporary seventies fashions (?) to a spread of food at a table (featuring a really impressive tracking crane shot over the festivities) are typically excellent. There are some very minor signs of age related wear and tear which have made it through the restoration gauntlet, including a couple of small nicks and what looks like a passing hair in the gate. Grain resolves naturally.

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Persian, though much as with Brick and Mirror it may be other elements of the sound design that initially capture attention. A lot of that is due to a wildly variant score from Iranian master Farhad Meshkat which combines more ostensibly normal underscoring choices with an almost musique concrète sensibility. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Ehsan Khoshbakht (HD; 11:44) talks about some of the themes of the film.


• Parviz Sayyad (HD; 6:07) is a new interview with the star of the film. Subtitled in English.


• See You Friday, Robinson (HD; 1:41:13) is an astounding documentary by Mitra Farahani showing exchanges between Golestan and Jean-Luc Godard. Subtitled in English.

Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio Blu-ray review

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure is an absolutely scabrous piece of filmmaking, but some may have my reaction that things are simply too buffoonish at times. Still, this is a prescient piece of filmmaking that clearly foresaw the downfall of the Shah. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very informative and interesting. Highly recommended.