Director: Kelsey Mann

Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman

2 Nime Sib (Two Halves of an Apple) is a 1991 Iranian social drama film written, directed, and produced by Kianoosh Ayari. One of the distinctive voices of post-revolution Iranian cinema, Ayari crafts an intimate, grounded story rooted in everyday Iranian life and the quiet tensions that shape it.

What is 2 Nime Sib about?

Set against the backdrop of contemporary Iranian society, Two Halves of an Apple follows characters whose lives intersect around shared struggles, unspoken desires, and the weight of social expectations. Ayari's screenplay avoids melodrama, letting the narrative build through small gestures and understated performances. The film draws its power from the textures of ordinary life — domestic spaces, neighborhood rhythms, and the way people talk around the things they cannot say directly. Without sensationalism, it holds a clear-eyed mirror to the pressures and contradictions of its time and place, leaving the viewer with questions that linger long after the screen goes dark.

Cast & crew

Kianoosh Ayari serves as writer, director, and producer — a rare triple role that gives the film an unusually unified artistic vision. Known for his humanist approach to Iranian social realism, Ayari brings authenticity and restraint to the material. Cast details for this production are limited in available records, but the ensemble performances reflect the naturalistic style Ayari championed in his early-career work.

Context & significance

For the Iranian diaspora, films like Two Halves of an Apple carry a particular resonance. Made in 1991, just over a decade after the revolution, the film belongs to a generation of Iranian cinema that was quietly mapping the emotional terrain of a society in transition. Ayari, alongside peers in the social-realist tradition, was asking what ordinary life looked like under new pressures — a question that diaspora audiences, negotiating their own sense of belonging between two worlds, tend to feel acutely. The film's Persian title, دو نیمه سیب, evokes a sense of division and incompleteness that runs through much of the era's cinema. Watching it today, from Canada, the US, or Europe, these themes feel both historical and immediate.

Where & how to watch

Two Halves of an Apple is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing. Watch it on your TV, computer, or phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, no extra download required. Start a subscription and cancel anytime.