Under the Shadow

As bombs rain from the sky at the height of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, the young mother Shideh and her daughter, Dorsa, take cover in their apartment block. When a missile hits their apartment building, a neighbour dies in mysterious circumstances. Following this, Dorsa’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbed and Shideh is slowly drawn into a mania, in which she struggles to cling onto what is real and what is not. Searching for answers, Shideh learns from a superstitious neighbour that the cursed, unexploded missile might have brought with it Djinn – malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits that travel on the wind… Masterfully staged in the style of early Polanski films, the psychological horror-drama UNDER THE SHADOW caused a sensation at this year’s Sundance Festival.