by Behtash Sanaeeha
Sixty-year-old Manouchehr has never married and lives in a provincial town. After 30 years working at the local cigarette factory, he has just retired, but from force of habit still turns up for work every now and then. Following the death of his mother, anouchehr sets off to Tehran with the aim of tracking down an old childhood friend. Having arrived in the big city, the first people the somewhat lost man meets is the peculiar hotel receptionist Kaveh, who dreams of emigrating to Mars, and the aimless Masha, who has just escaped from a clinic. United by eccentricity, a beautiful friendship soon develops between these three unlikely protagonists. Subtle, laconic humour characterises Behtash Sanaeeha’s wonderfully balanced directorial debut.