Ahmed, a teacher originally from Tehran currently living in exile near the border with Afghanistan, tries to protect a young man in love and a girl trapped in an arranged marriage – all while also trying to reconnect with his estranged wife. The film, told in dozens of shades of gray, is set amidst an expansive mountain landscape that nevertheless feels claustrophobic. Winner of the Big Screen Competition at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Endless Borders is a gripping drama in which danger lurks literally everywhere: within the family, amid the area’s ethnic and religious tensions, and inside the politically repressive regime.