Director: Ali Samadi Ahadi
Cast: Vishka Asayesh, Majid Bakhtiari, Sina Parvaneh, Zanyar Mohammadi, Melika Foroutan
Haft Rooz is a 2025 Iranian-German drama film directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi, running 113 minutes. The film follows a woman named Maryam who has spent six years incarcerated and is granted a seven-day medical leave from prison, during which she reunites with her husband and children.
What is Haft Rooz about?
Maryam, who has been held in prison for six years following her arrest, suffers a cardiac episode that requires outside medical attention. Prison authorities grant her a conditional seven-day release so she can receive treatment at a hospital beyond the prison walls. During this brief window, her family — her husband and her children — gathers around her, not simply to care for her health but to urge her to seize this window as a chance to flee and never return. Torn between her own convictions and the desperate wishes of those she loves, Maryam spends those seven days weighing a decision whose consequences will shape the rest of her life and theirs. The film is structured around this tightly compressed time frame, building its drama from quiet domestic spaces and the emotional weight of unfinished conversations.
Cast & crew
Director Ali Samadi Ahadi is an Iranian-German filmmaker whose previous work spans documentary and narrative features. The cast includes Vishka Asayesh and Melika Foroutan, two of Iranian cinema's most recognized dramatic actresses, alongside Majid Bakhtiari, Sina Parvaneh, Zanyar Mohammadi, Tannaz Molaei, Sam Vafa, and Morteza Tavakoli.
Context & significance
Haft Rooz is a German-Iranian co-production that situates itself within a long tradition of Iranian drama that examines ordinary family life under extraordinary pressure. For diaspora audiences, the film's central tension — a mother forced to choose between her family and her circumstances — will resonate across generational and geographic distances. The film is co-produced partly in Germany, reflecting the growing body of work created by Iranian filmmakers working across borders. Its 113-minute runtime and its focus on a confined, domestic setting place it in the tradition of chamber dramas that prize emotional intimacy over spectacle. Viewers familiar with Iranian arthouse cinema will find the pacing measured and the performances nuanced.
Where & how to watch
Haft Rooz is available to stream on K-Time. The film is presented in its original Persian-language audio with subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no extra download required, no geo-blocking, and cancel anytime.