Director: Pouya Nabi
Cast: Iman Sayad Borhani, Shadi Karamroudi
Khabgardha is a 2023 Iranian short film directed by Pouya Nabi, tracing the fragile boundary between memory and dream as a young man wanders through the rooms of an old house and the corridors of his own childhood — a quiet, introspective work from Iran's independent short-film scene.
What is Khabgardha about?
A young man finds himself back inside a house from long ago, moving through spaces that feel both familiar and strange. The rooms hold traces of a childhood he can almost touch — and the presence of the one companion who shared that time with him. The film unfolds in a state somewhere between waking and sleep, where objects, light, and silence carry more weight than dialogue. Neither linear narrative nor pure abstraction, it drifts through moments the way memory actually works: incomplete, emotionally vivid, and quietly haunting. The story never announces its meaning; it lets the atmosphere accumulate until something essential rises to the surface.
Cast & crew
Director Pouya Nabi crafts the film as a personal, atmospheric piece that relies heavily on visual storytelling. Lead actor Iman Sayad Borhani carries the film's emotional register through physical presence rather than exposition, while Shadi Karamroudi brings warmth and specificity to the childhood companion who anchors the protagonist's reverie. Both performances are restrained and well-suited to the film's contemplative tone.
Context & significance
Short films occupy a vital space in Iranian cinema — often the proving ground for directors who go on to shape the country's feature landscape, and frequently the format where the most daring formal experiments happen. Khabgardha belongs to a strand of Iranian shorts preoccupied with time, loss, and the texture of domestic memory. For diaspora viewers, an old house in Iran carries particular resonance: it is a stand-in for a home country experienced partly through the memories of parents and grandparents, accessible only in fragments. This film speaks directly to that condition without ever stating it outright.
Where & how to watch
Khabgardha is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Your subscription covers unlimited viewing and you can cancel anytime.