Director: Hamid Zargarnejad
Cast: Saed Soheyli, Mitra Hajjar, Kamran Tafti
Mahoora is a 2018 Iranian drama-romance-war film directed by Hamid Zargarnejad, set in a remote border village of Khuzestan province. Rooted in local legend and wartime memory, it follows a young man whose love for a village woman collides with an ancient ritual that demands extraordinary sacrifice.
What is Mahoora about?
In a wetland border community in Khuzestan, an old tradition holds that the spirit of the Hoor — the vast marshes — must be appeased each week by the most beautiful girl in the village, who wades into the water as a living offering. When Amin arrives, he falls for the young woman chosen for this rite, placing his longing and conscience in direct conflict with a custom the entire village treats as sacred. Against a backdrop of war's lingering wounds and the fragile rhythms of rural life, the story tracks how Amin navigates loyalty, forbidden feeling, and a community that will not easily yield its inherited beliefs. The film draws on a verified local account, lending the premise an unsettling authenticity that separates it from pure myth.
Cast & crew
Hamid Zargarnejad directs with attention to the Khuzestani landscape, letting the marshes function as both setting and symbol. Saed Soheyli carries the film as Amin, grounding the romantic tension in restraint rather than melodrama. Mitra Hajjar brings quiet gravity to the woman at the centre of the ritual. Kamran Tafti rounds out the principal cast in a supporting role that anchors the community's perspective.
Context & significance
Khuzestan's wetlands — the Hoor al-Azim and surrounding marshes — carry deep cultural memory for southwestern Iranians, and that memory is layered with the Iran-Iraq war that ravaged the region in the 1980s. Films set in this landscape occupy a distinctive space in Iranian cinema: they fuse folklore with historical trauma, offering something that neither pure war drama nor rural romance achieves alone. For diaspora viewers, Mahoora is a rare window into a corner of Iran rarely depicted on screen — an Arabic-influenced Persian community where ancient rites and modern grief coexist. The film's grounding in a true incident gives it documentary weight without abandoning the emotional register of fiction.
Where & how to watch
Mahoora is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio with subtitles. Stream on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no extra download required, no VPN needed, no geo-blocking. Cancel anytime.