Paradise
(Free Screening)

Director and Producer: Ali Atshani
Screenwriter: Mehdi Ali Mirzaei
Cast: Javad Ezzati, Mehran Rajabi, Mohammadali Najafian, Saman Saffari
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 80 Minutes
Language: Persian, with English Subtitles

Starring comedy superstar Javad Ezzati and esteemed character actor Mehran Rajabi, Paradise is reminiscent of The Lizard, the most popular Iranian comedy of all time. The story centres on a pair of young students at a school for Muslim clergymen. When one of them strikes up an online friendship with a German girl who invites him to Europe for a conference, his friend and the school’s headmaster decide to travel along with him. Paradise is constantly walking on the edge of Iranian cinema’s red lines, and the result is a remarkably funny film that pokes fun at stereotypes about clergymen and their perception in and outside Iran. Atshani’s film has not yet received authorization to be screened in Iran.