Director: Babak Lotfi Khajepasha
Cast: Maral Baniadam, Javad Ghamati, Roohollah Zamani, Ahoora Lotfi, Rayan Lotfi
Dar Aghooshe Derakht is a 2024 Iranian drama-family film directed by Babak Lotfi Khajepasha, marking his feature directorial debut. Running 88 minutes, it centers on a marriage in crisis and the quiet, devastating way that adult conflict reshapes the lives of children who have done nothing to deserve the fallout.
What is Dar Aghooshe Derakht about?
Kimia and Farid have spent twelve years building a life together — a shared home, routines, and two children who have grown up inside that world. When the fault lines in their marriage finally crack open, everything the family takes for granted begins to shift. The film stays close to the children, showing the crisis through their eyes rather than through the arguments of the adults. We watch ordinary moments — a meal, a school morning, a game in the yard — become strange and uncertain. The story asks what children absorb when the grown-ups around them are falling apart, and whether love for them is enough to hold a fractured household together.
Cast & crew
The film is led by Maral Baniadam and Javad Ghamati as the couple at the center of the storm, with Roohollah Zamani — known to Iranian cinema audiences for his naturalistic, understated performances — among the supporting cast. Young actors Ahoora Lotfi and Rayan Lotfi appear in significant roles, grounding the film's child-eye perspective in lived, unselfconscious performances.
Context & significance
Iranian family dramas occupy a long and respected tradition in Persian cinema, from the intimate social observation of Abbas Kiarostami to the domestic tension that runs through countless films about the gap between what parents want and what children experience. Dar Aghooshe Derakht belongs to this lineage — quiet, close to home, and concerned with the kind of hurt that rarely makes a sound. For diaspora viewers who grew up navigating the distance between what their families showed the world and what happened behind closed doors, this type of film lands differently: it names something familiar. The title translates roughly as In the Embrace of the Tree, an image of shelter that the film earns slowly.
Where & how to watch
Dar Aghooshe Derakht is available on K-Time with the original Persian audio. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Start or cancel your subscription anytime.