Director: Hadi Rahimi Khaas
Cast: Nafiseh Roshan, Siavash Kheirabi, Mehran Rajabi, Arash Montazeri, Valiollah Momeni
Maya Babre Mazandaran is a 2017 Iranian drama film directed by Hadi Rahimi Khaas, following the story of Maya, a Caspian tiger — one of the most critically endangered big cats on Earth — set against the dense, ancient forests of Mazandaran province in northern Iran.
What is Maya Babre Mazandaran about?
Deep within the lush woodlands of Mazandaran, a rare Caspian tiger named Maya navigates a shrinking world. As human activity encroaches on her territory, a group of people with conflicting interests — some driven by duty, others by greed, and a few by genuine compassion — find themselves entangled with the fate of this solitary creature. The film traces the fragile coexistence between wildlife and the communities that surround it, building tension around what survival means when two worlds collide. The outcome for Maya and for those who cross her path remains uncertain until the final moments.
Cast & crew
Nafiseh Roshan and Siavash Kheirabi lead the human cast alongside Mehran Rajabi, Arash Montazeri, and Valiollah Momeni. The production cast Maya the tiger in the central role, grounding the film in an authenticity rarely achieved in Iranian wildlife cinema. Director Hadi Rahimi Khaas brings a documentary-influenced eye to the narrative, letting the Mazandaran landscape breathe as a character in its own right.
Context & significance
The Caspian tiger — known in Persian as ببر مازندران — was once the dominant predator of the Hyrcanian forests stretching along the Caspian coast. Widely believed extinct by the late twentieth century, the species carries enormous symbolic weight in Iranian cultural memory, appearing in classical poetry, royal emblems, and folk tradition. For Iranians of the diaspora, a film that centres this lost creature is both an ecological statement and an act of cultural mourning. Maya Babre Mazandaran belongs to a tradition of Iranian nature cinema that uses wildlife as a lens for examining human responsibility, provincial life, and the tension between modernisation and heritage.
Where & how to watch
Maya Babre Mazandaran is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Membership can be cancelled anytime.