Director: Karim Amini
Cast: Bahram Radan, Tarlan Parvaneh, hosein poor karimi, kia Rokni, Reza Yazdani
Gorbe Siah (Black Cat) is a 2021 Iranian drama film directed by Karim Amini, featuring a cast led by Bahram Radan and Tarlan Parvaneh. Running 90 minutes, the film unfolds a tense, character-driven narrative within a contemporary Iranian urban setting, exploring the pressures and moral crossroads that define its central figures.
What is Gorbe Siah about?
A middle-aged man finds his daily routines disrupted when an unexpected presence enters his life, forcing a reckoning with choices long buried beneath the surface of ordinary existence. As tension builds between the characters around him — each carrying their own concealed burdens — the film traces how small decisions ripple outward with lasting consequences. Amini constructs the story with restraint, allowing silence and gesture to carry meaning rather than overt confrontation. The world the characters inhabit feels recognizably urban and contemporary, the drama arising organically from the friction between personal desire, social obligation, and moral accountability.
Cast & crew
Bahram Radan, one of Iranian cinema's most recognizable leading men, heads the cast, bringing a quiet intensity to his role. Tarlan Parvaneh appears alongside him in a significant supporting capacity. The ensemble includes Hosein Poor Karimi, Kia Rokni, Reza Yazdani, and Bahare Kianafshar, all under the direction of Karim Amini, whose work focuses on intimate human drama.
Context & significance
Iranian drama films of the 2020s have continued the tradition of psychological realism that distinguishes Persian cinema internationally — a lineage stretching back through decades of directors who favour interiority over spectacle. Gorbe Siah fits within this current: a domestic-scale story that carries considerable emotional weight for diaspora audiences who recognize the social textures it depicts. For Persian-speaking viewers abroad, films like this serve as a direct cultural link to contemporary Iranian life — its anxieties, its silences, and the moral negotiations that structure daily experience. The title itself, referencing the black cat as a symbol of ill omen in Persian folk culture, signals that the film engages with fate, misfortune, and the spaces between intention and consequence.
Where & how to watch
Gorbe Siah is available to stream on K-Time with original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no extra download required, no VPN needed, and no geo-blocking. Members can cancel anytime.