Directed by Masoud Bakhshi and produced by Ali Mosaffa, ‘Yalda’ is a joint production of Iran, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Luxembourg.
The 89-minute movie tells the story of Maryam Komijani, a young woman who has been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband.
On Yalda Night, an ancient cultural festive marking the longest night of the year in Iran, she comes to a TV studio to be forgiven by the victim’s only daughter on a live show.
But several incidents during the show and it's behind-the-scenes draw the two young women into a challenging situation before the crunch time.
Behnaz Jafari, Faqiheh Soltani, Fereshteh Sadr-Orafaee, Bahram Afshar, Fereshteh Hosseini, and Babak Karimi are among the cast members of the flick.
The film has gone on screen at a number of global events and grabbed a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the US and a Special Mention for best screenplay at the Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria.
‘Yalda’ gained high revenues by screening at German movie theaters. It was also shown at Le Louxor Cinema in Paris, France, on September 10-October 7, 2020.