Synopsis

The latest film from Iranian writer-director Babak Payami, whose Secret Ballot was screened in 2002, has fallen foul of the Iranian authorities with the film banned, the negatives confiscated, and Payami briefly imprisoned. 

The film attacks the corrupting effect of religious fanaticism and suggests that one day people will rise up and reject it in the name of reason and human decency. 



A young soldier is ordered to execute two men by tribal-leader Haji. But he imposes a stay of execution on a third when he realises she is a virgin, and so her soul would go to heaven. 

He tells the soldier he must marry her, consummate the marriage, then execute her. Then she will go to hell.

‘A work of considerable moral power, if of a somewhat oppressive sort. Its central ideas are gripping, and - at least in downtown Tehran - they have the capacity to shock.’ – Philip French, The Observer

Cast: Maryam Moqadam, Kamalan Narouli, Moazen

Toronto