Majid Salehi

Unfolding in nine incisive vignettes, this elegantly minimalist, powerfully subversive portrait of the everyday absurdity of life under authoritarianism follows an array of Iranians as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from schoolteachers to bureaucrats. These stirring snapshots—by turns humorous, affecting, Kafkaesque, and tragic—capture the spirit and determination of ordinary people in the face of adversity, offering a provocative, nuanced perspective on a complex society.

A private bodyguard by night, Assad makes the real money from his day job in the insurance fraud game heading a crime ring that stages car accidents.

A young and brilliant engineer takes extreme measures to get his designs noticed by the big car factories that had previously ignored him.