Director: Mani Haghighi

Cast: Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Amir Jadidi, Ehsan Goodarzi, Nader Fallah, Ali Bagheri

Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad is a 2016 Iranian drama, mystery, and horror film directed by Mani Haghighi. Set against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in mid-twentieth century Iranian history, it follows a police inspector investigating a series of unsettling events in a remote desert cemetery, blending atmospheric dread with political intrigue.

What is Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad about?

Police Inspector Babak Hafizi is called to investigate a strange case in a desolate desert cemetery where an exiled political prisoner has taken his own life inside the hull of an abandoned shipwreck. The walls of the wreck are covered with diary fragments, literary quotations, and cryptic symbols. The circumstances grow stranger still: each time someone is buried in this cemetery, an earthquake strikes. Hafizi must piece together what connects the dead man, the writings left behind, and the tremors that follow every burial — all while the events unfold just one day after the assassination of the Iranian prime minister in January 1965. The film builds its tension through accumulating detail, withholding resolution, and letting the desert landscape itself become a character.

Cast & crew

Director Mani Haghighi also appears in the film as a cast member — an unusual dual role that reflects his unconventional approach to filmmaking. The lead ensemble includes Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Amir Jadidi, Ehsan Goodarzi, Nader Fallah, Ali Bagheri, and Kiana Tajammol, all of whom contribute measured, restrained performances suited to the film's slow-burn mystery tone.

Context & significance

Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad occupies a distinctive space in Iranian cinema, situating a genre-inflected mystery — part noir, part supernatural horror — within a rigorously historical frame. The January 1965 assassination of Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur provides the film's opening timestamp, grounding its atmosphere in documented political turmoil. For diaspora viewers familiar with mid-century Iranian history, the period setting carries its own resonance without requiring the film to editorialize. Haghighi has become one of the more formally adventurous voices in contemporary Iranian film, and this work reflects that tendency toward genre experimentation and elliptical storytelling, qualities that distinguish it from mainstream Iranian dramatic production.

Where & how to watch

Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. You can watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime.