Middle Eastern and North African cinema
Iranian cinema flourished in the 1990s. In 1991 Rakshan Bani-Etemad becomes the first woman to receive the "Best Director" award at the Fajr Internation Film Festival in Iran. She won this award for her movie Nargess. Later, in 1997, Abbas Kiarostami won the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival for the film Taste of Cherry. Also, a wider range of films are allowed to be released, because the rules for Iranian cinema become less strict.