The film starts with this scenario; A teacher is drawing a diagram of an ear on the chalkboard with his back to the class; he is interrupted several times by the sound of a pen banging rhythmically against a desk.
Finally, unable to pick out the culprit, the teacher tells the seven boys sitting in the corner of the room to leave the class.
Shooting was nearly complete when, on February 1, Ayatollah Khomeini arrived in Tehran from exile and 10 days later declared an Islamic republic.
Kiarostami set about reimagining the film, junking the previous commentaries and changing the structure.
The film was banned after its premier and disappeared from view for decades until June 2009 when it reappeared and became widely distributed on the web.