Nora Hanifeh Zadeh

This time the action is restricted to a kindergarten, a world seemingly far removed from real life in Iran. Pre-school is the first and last time boys and girls can learn together freely before entering the strictly segregated education system. Much like the dog in Toodehroosta’s well received first feature Paat (2013), six-year-old Roham plays the often silent witness to the actions unfurling around him. As his curiosity grows, the complicated real lives of the other pupils start to unravel.

Amid a society that clings tightly to its cultural traditions, a translator, writer, and poet finds himself at odds with the government's restrictive cultural structure. With his finances stretched thin and his wife expelled from the university, he retreats to an abandoned house in his hometown. But just as he begins writing a new novel, a looming threat emerges - the rising river that threatens to engulf him and his family. As he battles to keep the floodwaters at bay, he's also fighting against the oppressive forces of the government that seek to silence his dissenting voice. But he's determined to finish his book, even as his situation becomes increasingly dire.