Until Tomorrow

Kooseh, A Man Who Can’t Grow a Beard

Iran, 2022

Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival Finalist

Samim, a teenage Afghan refugee boy with a secret, works illegally in a banquet hall in Tehran. The head waiter in the hall discovers Samim’s big secret and has his sights on him.

Digital, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 15 min. Director: Behzad Azadi. Screenwriter: Behzad Azadi. With: Mohammad Gholizadeh, Jabar Pishevar, Sadeq Moradi.

Until Tomorrow

Iran/France, 2022

Writer-director Ali Asgari has been racking up international accolades for a series of shorts and his debut feature, Disappearance (2017), which bring dramatic urgency to the precarious position of women in Iranian society. With Until Tomorrow, Asgari expands on the premise of his 2014 short The Baby in which a young woman has 24 hours to find someone to watch the infant she’s kept a secret from her parents who are coming for a visit. Rising star Sadaf Asgari (Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness) plays Fereshteh with single-minded drive as she and her friend (Ghazal Shojaei) face obstacle after obstacle in their pursuit to simply secure reliable childcare.

DCP, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 86 min. Director: Ali Asgari. Screenwriter: Alireza Khatami, Ali Asgari. With: Sadaf Asgari, Ghazal Shojaei, Babak Karimi.