Director: Iraj Ghaderi

Cast: Mohamad Ali Fardin, Naser Malek Motiee, Saeed Rad, Iraj Ghaderi, Mohammadali Keshavarz

Barzakhiha is a 1983 Iranian drama-thriller film directed by Iraj Ghaderi, set in the turbulent early period of the Iranian Revolution. Clocking in at 147 minutes, the film follows a group of prisoners who escape confinement and find themselves stranded in a remote border village, where their choices and moral compasses are put to the test.

What is Barzakhiha about?

A group of inmates seizes an opportunity to break free during the upheaval of the Iranian Revolution and flees toward the country's border. In a remote village on the frontier, the escapees encounter a local man named Yaqub, who urges them to abandon their flight and reconsider. The fugitives initially dismiss his counsel with ridicule and suspicion. As the story unfolds, the tensions between self-preservation and the weight of consequence shape each character's path. Ghaderi frames the border village as a liminal zone — a kind of purgatory — where the men must confront not only external danger but also the choices that brought them there.

Cast & crew

Director and co-star Iraj Ghaderi anchors the ensemble alongside Mohammad Ali Fardin, one of classic Iranian cinema's most recognizable faces, and Naser Malek Motiee, a celebrated veteran of pre-revolution Persian film. Saeed Rad, Mohammadali Keshavarz, Khosrow Shojazadeh, Turan Mehrzad, and Hossein Maleki round out a cast drawn from the established talent of that era's Iranian screen.

Context & significance

Released in 1983, Barzakhiha — whose title evokes the Islamic concept of barzakh, the liminal realm between death and judgment — arrives at a pivotal moment in Iranian film history. The production assembled veterans of pre-revolution Iranian popular cinema, a generation whose careers were dramatically reshaped by the political changes of the late 1970s. For diaspora viewers, the film carries an additional layer of meaning: it depicts ordinary people caught between systems of power, seeking escape through a landscape that mirrors the uncertainty many Iranians experienced during that period. Its blend of drama, thriller pacing, and allegorical setting places it within a distinctive strand of early post-revolution Iranian genre filmmaking.

Where & how to watch

Barzakhiha is available to stream on K-Time with original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and no extra download needed. Cancel anytime.