Heiran

Being a tale of unconditional love, it's much to easy to categorize "Heiran" as yet another "Romeo and Juliet"-offspring, but this deceptively simply story of first love from first time feature film director Shalizeh Arefpour provides a valuable and remarkably synchronized view into the current political climate in Iran and its historical background.

When young Mahi meets illegal Afghan immigrant Heiran on a crowded bus, it's love at first sight. The college plans Mahi's parents had for her goes out the window as Mahi pursues Heiran to Tehran where they get married in spite of her parents' objections. But when thrust into the grim reality of adulthood she soon realizes that love is no guarantee for happiness.

Playing against the background knowledge of how, during the reign of the Taliban, around three million Afghanis fled to Iran as illegal immigrants "Heiran" becomes a story about both the liminal state between childhood and adulthood and the delicate borders between countries and social hierarchies.
DANNY ROEG