Director: Ida Panahandeh
Cast: Sareh Bayat, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Pejman Bazeghi, Milad Hossein Pour, Pouria Rahimi
Nahid is a 2016 Iranian drama film directed by Ida Panahandeh, starring Sareh Bayat as a divorced woman navigating custody, remarriage, and independence in northern Iran. The film premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and brought Iranian social drama to international attention.
What is Nahid about?
Nahid is a young divorced mother raising her son Amir in a coastal town near the Caspian Sea. She relies on an informal custody arrangement — she keeps the boy only so long as she remains unmarried. When she falls for Ahmad, a man willing to commit to her, the relationship sets her informal agreement with her ex-husband on a collision course. Caught between her desire for a new life and the terms that allow her to keep her child, Nahid faces a series of pressures from family, ex-spouse, and social convention. The film traces how she weighs each competing demand, revealing the structural constraints that shape her choices without ever reducing her to a victim.
Cast & crew
Sareh Bayat, widely recognized for her work in Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, anchors the film with a performance that is restrained and precise. Navid Mohammadzadeh plays Ahmad, Nahid's new partner, while Pejman Bazeghi portrays the ex-husband. The ensemble also includes Milad Hossein Pour, Pouria Rahimi, and Nasrin Babael in supporting roles that flesh out Nahid's immediate world.
Context & significance
Ida Panahandeh's debut feature arrived during a period of sustained international interest in Iranian social cinema. Set in Gilan province, the film uses the lush, rain-drenched landscape of northern Iran as a backdrop for a story about legal and cultural constraints facing women in post-divorce family structures. For diaspora viewers familiar with these social realities from personal or family experience, the film offers a precisely observed portrait of how individuals negotiate systemic pressures within everyday relationships. Its measured pace and domestic scale are characteristic of a broader tradition of Iranian realist drama that prioritizes character observation over dramatic confrontation.
Where & how to watch
Nahid is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch directly on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Membership can be cancelled anytime.