Director Nader Saivar on Working With Jafar Panahi on Karlovy Vary-Bound ‘Hijamat’ and Situation in Iran Where ‘There Is a Sort of Aversion Towards Religion Among the Young Generation’

Iranian director Nader Saivar brings his drama 'Hijamat' to the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The film follows Karam, a man whose secret relationship with another man ignites conflict within his deeply religious Muslim family. Saivar, who has collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi since twenty seventeen, explores generational attitudes toward religion in contemporary Iran. According to Variety, Saivar discusses a growing aversion to religious orthodoxy among younger Iranians—a tension his film captures at the intersection of personal identity and family tradition.

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