Opponent
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series 2025 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema.
Suitcase (2023)
Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival 1st Prize Winner
From a large red suitcase laying on the cement of an underpass emerges an even larger man who proceeds about his day in the streets of Tehran — until, after a momentary distraction, he turns to find his suitcase has been stolen. As he desperately searches the city, memories of his previous life flood back and the sense of loss compounds in this by turns surreal and deeply poignant representation of the refugee experience.
DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 15 min. Directors: Saman Hosseinpuor, Ako Zandkarimi. Screenwriters: Saman Hosseinpuor, Ako Zandkarimi.
Opponent (2023)
Payman Maadi delivers a surprising and deeply affecting performance as Iman, an Iranian exile newly arrived in Sweden with his wife and two young children where they anxiously await word on their application for political asylum. A professional wrestler in Iran, Iman joins a local wrestling club in the hopes it will improve their chances to stay. As Iman begins to find renewed purpose, Maryam (Marall Nasiri), his wife, feels hers slipping away. But family tensions are only part of this complex portrait of the exile experience and coming to terms with one's true identity as Iman finds himself again enmeshed by the same rumors and desires that forced him to flee in the first place.
DCP, color, in Swedish and Persian with English subtitles, 119 min. Director: Milad Alami. Screenwriter: Milad Alami. With: Payman Maadi, Marall Nasiri, Amirali Abanzad.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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