Visionary filmmaker Farnoosh Samadi drew on the real, lived experiences of the Iranian LGBTIQ+ community to craft this tense yet poignant thriller.

Azad, a trans man, and his partner Nora are young lovers navigating the painful divide between modernity and deeply rooted social expectations. In order to get married Azad must first be legally recognised as a man, but when Azad’s application to access gender affirming care is rejected because he doesn’t have the permission of his estranged father, their future is thrown into uncertainty. With no other options they travel to his remote family village to convince his father to sign his documents. But when Azad goes missing, Nora must navigate bureaucracy within a community that would rather he not be found.

Part taut mystery, part intimate portrait of Iran’s young queer generation, they’re acutely aware of their rights and quietly resist erasure, holding on to hope in the face of immense constraint. The film beautifully captures the fragile space between love, resistance and survival in a society shaped by rigid tradition.