Cannes Palme d’or winner. Vahid, a garage mechanic, is startled to see a man he recognises as a notorious State prison official arriving at his workplace after a car accident. Initially intent upon revenge, Vahid instead decides to first seek out fellow ex-detainees who can confirm if this indeed is the right individual. But how will the disparate group agree on what collective action should be taken?

In his politically charged, darkly-humoured recent work, banned Iranian director Jafar Panahi explores the dilemma of how detainees can channel the personal impact of State detention in Iran, who precisely to blame and how to avoid stooping to the level of the perpetrator while experiencing the primal instinct to seek revenge.

No scenes of their past treatment are depicted – only through chaotic, heated debate between the characters do we sense what they’ve survived. Scattered moments of sheer absurdity lighten the tone.

Panahi skilfully draws upon his own experience of detention which drives him to expose, through film, the relentless repression that aims to contain, restrain and silence Iran’s people and those who support them.

Iran 2025
Director: Jafar Panahi
Cast: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari
Language: Persian, Azerbaijani (subtitled)

Further information: www.berwickfilmsociety.co.uk