Director: Naser Saffarian
Cast: Mitra Hajjar, Behnam Tashakor
Auto (original title: Auto-Sop) is a 2022 Iranian short drama directed by Naser Saffarian, running just thirteen minutes. The film follows a newlywed couple whose honeymoon trip surfaces a hidden layer of each other's character — with consequences neither expected.
What is Auto about?
A young married couple sets out on their honeymoon, full of the anticipation that follows a new beginning. What starts as an ordinary road trip gradually shifts when a seemingly innocent game between them draws out truths each had kept buried. Old assumptions crack open, unspoken feelings rise to the surface, and what began as intimacy tips toward something far more complicated. Saffarian condenses a full emotional arc into thirteen lean minutes, letting small gestures and charged silences carry the weight of the story rather than extended dialogue. The film leaves the audience sitting with the question of how well two people can ever truly know each other.
Cast & crew
The film is directed by Naser Saffarian, a Tehran-based filmmaker known for working in short and documentary forms. Lead actress Mitra Hajjar brings a restrained, carefully calibrated presence to the wife's role, while Behnam Tashakor plays the husband with a naturalism that keeps the drama grounded. Both actors convey a great deal through looks and body language rather than words.
Context & significance
Short films hold a significant place in contemporary Iranian cinema — they often serve as the space where emerging and independent directors take their sharpest creative risks, free from the commercial pressures that shape feature production. Auto-Sop belongs to a tradition of Iranian short dramas that examine the interior life of couples and the tensions that surface in private, unscripted moments. For diaspora viewers who grew up watching Iranian family dramas, this film's compressed portrait of a marriage tested at its very start will feel both familiar and quietly unsettling. It is the kind of story that lingers precisely because it refuses easy resolution.
Where & how to watch
Auto is available on K-Time with original Persian audio and Persian subtitles. Stream it on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.