Vahid, an Azerbaijani auto mechanic, was once imprisoned by Iranian authorities. During his sentence, he was interrogated blindfolded. One day, a man named Eqbal enters his workshop. His prosthetic leg creaks, and Vahid thinks he recognizes one of his former torturers.
Solomon, Prophet and the King, has asked God to give him an ideal kingdom which has never been given to anybody before. He is told to prepare himself and his subjects with evil and unearthly creatures that haunt the men.
Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned. Is he truly a hero?
Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.
Mahin lives alone in Tehran since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalize her love life.
Three members of an extended Afghan family start their lives over in Iran as refugees, unaware they face a decades-long struggle ahead to be "at home".
Immediately after the US pullout from Afghanistan, Taliban forces occupied the Hollywood Gate complex, which is claimed to be a former CIA base in Kabul.
Amir, a young Iranian, signs on with a fisherman on the rugged Caspian Sea coast in order to earn the money he needs to marry his sweetheart, Narges. But in so doing, he becomes entangled in the criminal machinations of caviar poaching. Piece by piece, a complex hierarchy is revealed in a parallel realm that becomes ever more constricting and oppressive, endangering Amir’s relationship with Narges as well.
Shakib is a homeless day laborer who never got over the loss of his wife and son in an earthquake years ago. Over the last couple of years, he has developed a relationship with a deaf and mute woman, Ladan. The construction site on which he works today turns out to be the set of a film about the atrocities committed by Hitler during WWII. Against all odds, he is given a movie role, a house and a chance at being somebody. When Ladan learns about this, she comes to his workplace begging for help. Shakib’s scheme to hide her goes tragically wrong and threatens to ruin his newfound status and what seemed to be the opportunity of a lifetime.
A satirical take on the mundane absurdities of life in modern-day Iran, these nine vignettes illuminate the lighter side of enduring under authoritarian rule. Whether choosing a name for a newborn, graduating from grade school, getting a driver’s license, applying for a job, or seeking approval for a film script, if you live in Iran, you best come fluent in Orwellian discourse.
Shayda, a young Iranian woman living in Australia, finds refuge in a women’s shelter with her 6-year-old daughter, Mona. Having fled her husband, Hossein, and filed for divorce, Shayda struggles to maintain normalcy for Mona. Buoyed by the approach of Nowruz, she tries to forge a fresh start with new and unfettered freedoms. But when a judge grants Hossein visitation rights, he reenters their life, stoking Shayda’s fear that he’ll attempt to take Mona back to Iran.
Elham is a young, divorced Iranian woman. Seeking to find herself after a near-fatal beating by her husband, she finds solace and salvation in the water and soon makes her mark as a formidable endurance swimmer. In the fight of her life, Elham faces political, religious, and personal obstacles in search of her goal: the Guinness World Record for swimming the longest distance with hands bound.
Ahmad is an exiled teacher living in a small poor village with mostly ethnic Baloch along the Iranian border with Afghanistan. He acquaints a family of illegal Hazara refugees who are fleeing an immediate threat from the Taliban’s rise to power. Soon after Ahmad begins to realize that prejudice and dogma are dictating all of their lives and his perspective on what is right and what is wrong changes drastically. He decides to save a young forbidden love but that decision can have dire consequences for everyone.
Ali, a blind man, is attempting to commit suicide when he is interrupted by the concierge of his building. He is informed that the police is in search of a woman who has escaped and hidden somewhere in the building. Little by little, Ali finds out that the fugitive woman, Leila, is inside his apartment. After participating in a workers’ protest that led to chaos, she is distraught about her four-year-old son who was lost when she was taken in a police van. Gradually, Ali becomes emotionally attached to her. Wishing to flee reality, helping Leila becomes a refuge in his own world of imagination.
After his mother's untimely death, Amir, who sees his father as the only one responsible for their ruined life, is desperate to leave the family home and take Ali, his younger brother. Taking advantage of his connections with Tehran's golden youth, he embarks on a lucrative business. But one night, a simple delivery turns into chaos and upsets the destiny of the two brothers.
Roya and Babak are a young couple who intend to emigrate from Iran. Roya's encounter with an anonymous girl is the beginning of strange events in their life.
Student Fereshteh has to hide her illegitimate baby for one night from her parents who turn up for a surprise visit. Her friend Atefeh helps her. They embark on an odyssey through Tehran during which they must carefully weigh up who their allies are.
In an Iranian juvenile detention center, a group of adolescent girls serve their sentence for the grave crime of murdering their father, their husband or another male family member.
The story of a young albino boy who has been hidden from the public because of him being an albino. A young girl takes advantage of his pure heart to make him a social media influencer. Meanwhile, the young albino boy falls in love with the girl.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.
At the age of 40, Leila has spent her entire life caring for her parents and four brothers. A family that is constantly arguing and under pressure from various debts in the face of sanctions against Iran. While her brothers are struggling to make ends meet, Leila makes a plan.
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.
The truth carries a heavy burden, whether it is said that it sets off a storm, or it remains in the heart that disturbs man. Between telling the truth and revealing a secret or being silent and expedient, one is preferable to the other.
