Director: Khosro Masumi
Cast: Pedram Sharifi, Elham Nami, Levon Haftvan
Karekasif is a 2018 Iranian crime-drama film directed by Khosro Masumi, following a law student entangled in illegal trade who sees the U.S. Green Card Lottery as his ticket out — only to find the road to a new life far more treacherous than he imagined.
What is Karekasif about?
Farhad is a young law student living on the margins, making ends meet through the illegal sale of alcohol while dreaming of a fresh start abroad. When his name comes up in the U.S. Green Card Lottery, he takes it as a sign. He sets off for Turkey alongside his wife Elham and their young son Navid, hoping to complete the visa process and leave their troubles behind. But the journey quickly unravels. Documents, bureaucracy, and the murky company Farhad keeps on the road all conspire against him, turning what should have been a hopeful departure into a desperate scramble where the stakes extend well beyond his own future.
Cast & crew
The film is directed by Khosro Masumi and stars Pedram Sharifi as the conflicted Farhad, a role that demands credible desperation beneath an outwardly ordinary exterior. Elham Nami plays the wife navigating the emotional cost of her husband's choices, while Levon Haftvan rounds out the central family unit as the couple's son Navid.
Context & significance
Stories of Iranians seeking emigration through official channels — lotteries, visas, the exhausting uncertainty of waiting rooms in third countries — carry a particular weight for the diaspora. Karekasif sits squarely in a tradition of Iranian social-realist cinema that refuses to romanticize the desire to leave: it treats the characters' ambitions with sympathy while exposing the structural and personal traps that close in around them. For viewers who have navigated or witnessed the immigration process firsthand, the Turkey transit leg and the bureaucratic maze the family confronts will resonate as recognizably real. The crime undercurrent grounds the drama in economic necessity rather than simple villainy.
Where & how to watch
Karekasif is available to watch on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Stream it on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no extra download needed, no VPN required, and no geo-blocking. Subscribe and cancel anytime.