Critical Zone

An ode to a suffocated society that gives up loudly. The third film by dissident director Ali Ahmadzadeh reveals Tehran's grim reality, which the totalitarian regime in Iran is unable to admit.

Having to film without permission, Ali Ahmadzadeh has used his creativity to circumvent restrictions. This has led to new filmmaking approaches, which gives the film a sense of fiction intertwining with poetic realism and documentary. The film director considers the film as an act of rebellion on his part as he tries to expose Tehran's grim reality, which the regime is unable to admit exists.

In the dark of night, the smuggler Amir meets drug addicts, flight attendant smugglers, sex workers and a conservative-minded mother desperately seeking help for her addicted son. Society experiences a total failure under the regime's moral pressure, and Amir - left to himself - takes a short-term «first aid» role in a desperate country with no future.

Maka Dolidze

Director

Ali Ahmadzadeh (b. 1986) is born in Tehran and is persecuted by the regime in Iran due to political reasons and censorship. He could not leave Iran to attend the award ceremony at the Locarno Film Festival, where Critical Zone received the Golden Leopard for best film. He has studied at Neinava Music University in Tehran. He later dedicated his film career to depict the youth's resistance to theocracy.