Persian films are quite the sensation here.
There are three theatres in my area - one is about 15 minutes away, another an hour and a half, and the last two hours away - which set aside one spot for one Persian movie at a time. The theatres alloted for Persian movies are usually pretty empty unfortunately, unless someone happens to be celebrating some event or another.
I've found films useful for learning idioms and proverbs, for the most part. I would say that my favourite Persian films have been from recent times - I thought Atash Bas and Mehman (not to be confused with Mehman-e maman) were particularly spectacular. Atash Bas was a film about a feuding couple who wanted a divorce and seperated (I won't spoil the rest of it, for those who haven't seen it), while Mehman was a hilarious comedy about an Iranian-American who went to Tehran alone (no spoiler here either
). Mehman was the last film that I saw - I actually went to see it on three different occasions.
A lot of the humour focused on the clashing of American and Persian cultures - which made it quite an entertaining smash hit here. I'd be surprised if the film were allowed in Iran though - there was some off-colour humour in the film even touching issues like homosexuality...