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Like a Fish on the Moon

Proxima Competition 2022 / Balaye aseman zire ab / Iran 2022

Haleh and her husband Amir are having to cope with a tough situation: their four-year-old son Ilya has suddenly stopped talking. There is evidently no physiological cause, so they go to see a psychotherapist who comes up with a radical solution. Ilya’s mother, who has cared for him until now, is to take a back seat while the father assumes her role looking after the child. This change in the established order sends the family into a downward spiral of tension and aggression, and it's extremely difficult to see a way out.

Like a Fish on the Moon Like a Fish on the Moon

Synopsis

Haleh and her husband Amir are facing a difficult situation: their four-year-old son Ilya has suddenly stopped talking. Various professional consultations reveal no physiological cause, so a psychotherapist comes up with an unusual solution. The boy’s mother, who has cared for him until now, is to take a back seat while the father assumes her role looking after the child. The tension generated by this change to their daily life only intensifies until the family gradually starts to lose control. This feature debut by director Dornaz Hajiha is not only an excellent study of human relationships bereft of spontaneity and the harrowing consequences this entails, but it is also a tale of the helplessness that all parents experience in their efforts to protect their beloved child.  

Anna Kořínek

About the film

78 min / Color, DCP
World premiere

Director Dornaz Hajiha / Screenplay Dornaz Hajiha / Dir. of Photography Alireza Barazande / Sound Vahid Moghadasi / Editor Ashkan Mehri / Producer Ehsan Rasoulof / Cast Sepidar Taherti, Shahdiyar Shakiba, Ali Ahmadi / Sales Asian Shadows

About the director

Dornaz Hajiha

Dornaz Hajiha (1988, Tehran). Filmography: Three, Four Days Ago (2010, short), Piece of Stake (2013, short), Opening Night (2013, short), Under the Same Roof (2014, short), Lost (2015), Marlon (2017, short), Marziyeh (2017, short), Like a Fish on the Moon​ (Balaye aseman zire ab, 2022).

Contacts

Asian Shadows
Room 26, 22/F Metro Centre II 21 Lam Hing St., 999077, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Phone: +33 670 650 122
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Dornaz Hajiha
Film Director

Shahdyar Shakiba
Actor

Sepidarsadat Mirmohammadalitari
Actress

Diba Hajiha
Costume Designer, Production Designer

Yazdan Esmaeil Tabrizi
Assistant Director

Nirvana Parvizimotlagh
Assistant Producer

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