Bakhtiyar Panjeei

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.

In an ordinary Iranian town, two mysterious strangers in a car begin to park daily at the same spot for hours. This unusual occurrence causes paranoia among the locals, who suspect them to be national security.

Harun, a Kurdish freedom fighter, is haunted by the memories of war that have left him with post-traumatic stress, and burdened by a profound guilt. In an effort to seek solace, his friend takes him to see a group of Yarsan musicians (an ancient Kurdish religious group), who believe that their sacred Tanbur music can soothe the soul and cure illness. When the music cannot alleviate the burden of war from Harun’s heart, he is guided to Maryam, a traditional Kurdish tattooist who lives in a remote village located in the Triangle of Borders region, where Iran, Iraq, and Turkey cross. When Harun eventually opens up about his past, his memories intertwine with those of the village, and more is subsequently unveiled.