Director: Kiumars Poorahmad
Cast: Mahvash Afsharpanah, Rahim Hoodi, Ali Ghorbani
Bekhatere Haniyeh is an Iranian drama-family film written and directed by Kiumars Poorahmad, produced in 1373 (1994–95). The film centers on a young girl named Haniyeh whose presence becomes the emotional axis around which a family's struggles and bonds are tested.
What is Bekhatere Haniyeh about?
A quiet Iranian household finds its routines upended when Haniyeh, a child whose gentle nature belies the weight she carries, becomes the catalyst for long-suppressed tensions among the adults around her. The film unfolds at an unhurried pace, allowing everyday moments — shared meals, small arguments, silent glances — to accumulate into a portrait of family loyalty under pressure. Poorahmad refuses easy resolutions, instead presenting a nuanced look at how one child's vulnerability forces the grown-ups in her life to reckon with their own failings, choices, and capacity for love.
Cast & crew
Director Kiumars Poorahmad, one of Iranian cinema's most distinctive voices in family-centered drama, both wrote and directed the film. Lead actress Mahvash Afsharpanah brings quiet authority to her role, while Rahim Hoodi and Ali Ghorbani round out the principal cast, each delivering measured, naturalistic performances consistent with Poorahmad's understated style.
Context & significance
Iranian family dramas of the early 1370s occupied a unique space in world cinema — intimate in scope yet philosophically rich. Poorahmad's body of work in this period explored how children perceive and absorb adult conflict, a theme that resonated deeply with Iranian audiences at home and has since found a devoted second audience among the diaspora. For Persian-speaking viewers abroad, a film like Bekhatere Haniyeh offers more than nostalgia: it is a reminder of the quiet moral seriousness that defined a generation of Iranian filmmaking, where family bonds were examined without sentimentality and everyday life was treated with the gravity it deserves.
Where & how to watch
Bekhatere Haniyeh is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.