Set against the pressures of family expectation, censorship and social surveillance, Sahand Kabiri’s striking debut feature offers an intimate portrait of love, defiance and chosen community in contemporary Iran.

Following the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022, a new wave of independent and underground Iranian cinema began to emerge. The filmmakers associated with this wave make their work without complying with state censorship or many of the restrictions previously imposed on filmmaking in Iran. It has not yet been formally identified or defined as a movement by film critics or scholars; rather, “the new wave of Iranian independent cinema” is a term used by the filmmakers themselves to describe this growing body of work and its shared spirit of artistic and political independence. The Crowd (Jama’at) is an excellent example of ‘new wave’ Iranian cinema, brave new filmmaking that is pushing boundaries and offering fresh perspectives on life in Iran.

The feature is preceded by short film The Couch Dir. (UK 15 min) Lara Kuijper.

A strange journey through the suburbs of London – starring three childhood friends on the
edge of a breakup, and a second hand couch.