Director: Ahmad Otraghchi

Cast: Fereshte Alousi, Hamidreza Azarang, Ladan Mostofi, Mehdi Ahmadi, Mehrnoosh Sattari

Chehelo Haft is a 2020 Iranian social drama directed by Ahmad Otraghchi, set against the first night of winter. Three women from vastly different social classes find their lives momentarily intersecting, revealing the quiet distances that separate people within the same city.

What is Chehelo Haft about?

On the eve of the winter solstice in Tehran, three women each carry a private burden into the cold night. One moves through wealth that insulates her from others; another navigates the pressures of the middle class; a third faces hardship with few resources and fewer options. Their separate trajectories bring them into brief, unexpected contact. The film draws its tension not from confrontation but from the silences between these encounters — the unspoken recognitions and missed connections that define urban life. By daybreak, each woman returns to her own world, though something has shifted in ways that may not be immediately visible.

Cast & crew

Director Ahmad Otraghchi shapes the film around a strong ensemble of Iranian actresses. Fereshte Alousi, Ladan Mostofi, and Mehrnoosh Sattari each anchor one of the three storylines, while Hamidreza Azarang, Mehdi Ahmadi, Mohammad Reza Ghaffari, Rima Raminfar, and Rabea Madani provide the supporting texture that grounds each character in her social world.

Context & significance

Iranian social cinema has a long tradition of examining class and gender through quietly observed, everyday situations rather than dramatic confrontation — a lineage running from the New Wave through the work of directors attentive to ordinary women's lives. Chehelo Haft fits squarely within this current, offering diaspora viewers a recognizable portrait of Tehran's social geography: the distance between neighborhoods, the coded language of dress and manner, and the particular loneliness that can exist in a crowded city. For Iranian-Canadians and diaspora audiences who left behind family and friends, films like this carry extra resonance — they hold a mirror to a Tehran that continues to change.

Where & how to watch

Chehelo Haft is available on K-Time with original Persian audio and English subtitles for non-Persian speakers. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and cancel anytime.