Director: Shahin Samadpour
Cast: Asal Shakeri, Aysan Hadad, Hossein Mehri, Saghi Asgari
Paria is a 2024 Iranian short drama directed by Shahin Samadpour, running seventeen minutes and confronting one of the most difficult subjects in contemporary Persian cinema: the long shadow of childhood sexual abuse and the impossible weight of a secret carried alone for years.
What is Paria about?
A young woman named Paria has spent years guarding a wound no one else knows about — the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather during childhood. When her mother falls gravely ill, Paria is forced back into contact with the man who left their lives long ago, reopening a chapter she had never truly closed. The film unfolds in the quiet space between what is said and what remains unspoken, tracing how a single encounter can force a reckoning with the past that cannot be indefinitely deferred.
Cast & crew
Director Samadpour draws focused performances from a compact ensemble. Asal Shakeri carries the film as Paria, holding the character's internal conflict largely through stillness and restraint. Aysan Hadad, Hossein Mehri, and Saghi Asgari round out the cast, each presence calibrated to the film's quiet, pressure-filled register.
Context & significance
Short-form Iranian drama has long served as a space where filmmakers address topics that longer, more commercially exposed works cannot easily approach. Paria belongs to a tradition of Iranian shorts that treat trauma — particularly the trauma borne by women and girls — with unflinching honesty rather than narrative distance. For diaspora viewers, the film offers something rare: a Persian-language work that holds cultural familiarity alongside subjects that Iranian families have historically struggled to name aloud. Its brevity is also its discipline; seventeen minutes leave no room for evasion, only for truth.
Where & how to watch
Paria is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No Persian dubbing or subtitles are included for this title. Watch on the web, TV, or phone — no geo-blocking, no VPN needed, and you can cancel anytime.