Butterflies Live Only One Day

Against the violent yet stunning backdrop of the Qandil Mountains, a film that asks the most basic yet painful of questions about war, love, and lost ones.

An old man is collecting the bodies of the dead in the fighting between the local parties and believes that everyone is the same and fighting for the same purpose.

Through rich imagery and emotional symbolism, the film explores Kurdish identity, hope, and struggle. portraying life as both resistance and renewal. Despite its brevity, Zrian carries the depth and artistic sensitivity that later defined Karimi’s documentaries, blending realism and metaphor to reveal the unseen boundaries of life in Kurdistan

Haibat and six of her grandchildren are making furnaces (tandoor ovens) under the burning sunlight of Kirkuk, but they don't have any bread to eat themselves! Haibat's son became depressed and died due to poverty and lack of employment. While her city is one of the biggest sources of oil worldwide, Haibat and her six grandchildren are trying to make ends meet in this city of oil. This vicious circle goes around.

After a dam flooded a village in northern Iran, one island remained. There’s a grave on it. On a hill above the new lake, an old woman looks out at it. An intimate look at the daily routine of an Iranian woman who has survived modestly for twelve years alone in a house at the base of the mountain. She waits for permission to visit the island.