Knock Out is a 2021 Iranian short film directed by Amirhosein Khabazzadeh Haghighi, running just seventeen minutes and packing the emotional weight of a feature. It follows Mahan, a boy with albinism whose eyesight is steadily failing, and the unexpected decision he makes when treatment stops offering hope.
What is Knock Out about?
Mahan is a boy living with albinism, and the condition is progressing: his eyesight is fading, and every check-up brings worse news than the last. At first he does what anyone would do and fights it — treatments, appointments, the hope that something will hold the decline back. Then, as the world around him dims, he makes a decision that startles everyone close to him. Instead of resisting the disease, he begins to help it along, choosing to meet total blindness on his own terms rather than wait for it to arrive. With minimal means and a family struggling to understand him, he prepares himself for a life without sight. The story is spare and focused, letting its young central character carry the drama through action rather than exposition.
About the cast
The film is directed by Amirhosein Khabazzadeh Haghighi, a filmmaker working in short-form Iranian cinema. Lead performances are delivered by Haniyeh Kohandelshirazi, Mohammad Dehghani, Azadeh Afsari, and Maryam Keshavarz, a cast that keeps the register grounded and the emotional beats credible across the film's compact runtime.
Context & significance
Short-form Iranian cinema rarely reaches diaspora audiences, which makes Knock Out a small but meaningful discovery. Short films produced in Iran often work within tight budgets and lean on performance and premise rather than spectacle — a tradition that rewards attentive viewers. For Persian-speaking audiences abroad, a story about a child facing the loss of his sight, and about a family learning when to fight and when to let go, resonates beyond its medical premise: it speaks to the particular grief of a future slipping away and the courage required to meet it head-on. At seventeen minutes, Knock Out asks very little of your evening and delivers a self-contained emotional arc.
Watching Knock Out on Ktime
Knock Out is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles. Stream it on your web browser, smart TV, or Android phone with no VPN needed and no geographic restrictions. Subscription can be cancelled anytime.