Shirin Aghakashi

Forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building, Emad and Rana move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramatically change the young couple’s life.

A non-traditional wife and mother, Azar (Karimi) is first seen racing her dirt bike over a hilly track while her husband Amir (Azarang) and young daughter cheer her on. Co-equal with her liberal-minded husband in marriage and in their fledgling business venture, a café with a thriving carryout trade, she is forced to meet an unequal challenge in which the strict pecking order of a family dominated by misogynist uncle, a business loan with strings attached, a black sheep son with a hidden agenda, and a tragic accident add up to a scenario in which Azar is targeted as the unwilling sacrificial victim. (Gene Siskel Film Center)

Hanieh is a broke forty year old woman on the verge of being thrown out from her apartment. She has tried to make a film based on her own semi-autobiographical script for years, but after accepting that she has no luck to fulfill her dream, she has no other choice than selling the script to one of her best friends. Due to her love for the script and its details, Hanieh is not able to tolerate any indifferent and ignorant reactions during the preproduction, but she decides not to get involved in any conflict with the director, the cast and the crew today. However, during the reading rehearsal, others begin to judge her character as described in the script and name her a bastard and a loser...