Synopsis

The Iranian journalist Roohollah Zam was born into a high-ranking clergy family. After opposing the regime, he is forced to leave the country and lives in exile in France, where he runs a news channel that exposes the regime's abuse of power.

In 2019, Nahid Persson begins filming Roohollah and his family as they live in seclusion and under protection. However, the regime manages to infiltrate his network and plants infiltrators posing as regime critics.

Roohollah is lured into a trap and kidnapped to Iran. After 14 months in prison, he is executed. —Rostam Persson



Credits:

Director: Nahid Persson
Production: Setareh Lundgren for RealReel Doc AB
Cinematography: Nahid Persso
Editing: Rostam Persson
Music: Natali Noor
Involved TV Channel: ARTE GEIE, SRT, DR2, SVT
Screening copy: Sara Rüster for Swedish Film Institute


The Swedish-Iranian filmmaker Nahid Persson is known for  uncompromisingly critical films about her native country. In her latest documentary, she focuses on the Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam.

Like many of his colleagues, Zam operates from abroad, in his case France, due to the lack of press freedom in Iran. Drawing on secret sources and anonymous video footage, and constantly speaking on the phone from his small home, he exposes the corruption and hypocrisy of the Iranian regime. He does so at the risk of his own life and lives under permanent guard.

In matter-of-fact style but with mounting tension, the documentary shows Zam’s suffocating existence. In his world, everyone seems to be spying on each other—even fellow journalists don’t trust each other. The scandals are huge, the amounts of money embezzled  astronomical, and the atmosphere is sometimes unbearably tense. Who is the mysterious millionaire from Australia? How reliable is Shirin, Zam’s intermediary? The film seems more like a spy thriller than a documentary. But tragically, it’s all too real.