Director: Navid Mahmoudi
Cast: Reza Ahmadi, Fereshteh Hosseini, Behrang Alavi, Nazanin Bayati, Shams Langroudi
Raftan is a 2016 Iranian-Afghan drama directed by Navid Mahmoudi, following two young Afghan lovers torn apart by displacement and forced to stake everything on a desperate border-crossing journey toward an uncertain future in Europe.
What is Raftan about?
Fereshteh and Nabi are young Afghans whose bond is tested the moment her family uproots to seek safety in Iran, separating them without warning. Unwilling to accept the distance, Nabi makes the dangerous decision to slip across the border illegally, determined to reach Fereshteh and bring her with him on a longer, harder road through Turkey and beyond. The film traces their efforts to reunite against overwhelming odds — bureaucratic walls, hostile terrain, and the ever-present threat of exposure — while quietly asking what people are willing to endure for love and for the slim chance of a life with dignity. Every step forward carries a cost, and the film never lets the audience forget it.
Cast & crew
Director Navid Mahmoudi brings an observational, restrained hand to the material. Reza Ahmadi and Fereshteh Hosseini carry the film's emotional weight as Nabi and Fereshteh, grounding the story in lived-in tenderness. Supporting performances by Behrang Alavi, Nazanin Bayati, and the poet-actor Shams Langroudi add texture to a world where every secondary character carries their own quiet burden.
Context & significance
Raftan — the Farsi and Dari word for 'leaving' or 'going' — is a title that doubles as a statement. The film arrives at the intersection of two immigrant experiences deeply familiar to diaspora audiences: the Afghan displacement into Iran, and the onward push toward Europe that defined the mid-2010s migration wave. For Persian-speaking viewers living outside their homeland, the film speaks a recognizable language of upheaval, family separation, and the unrelenting hope that pulls people across dangerous borders. It is quiet in tone, grounded in landscape, and resolutely human in its sympathies — a drama that finds the personal inside the political.
Where & how to watch
Raftan is available on K-Time with original Persian and Dari audio. No VPN is needed — watch directly on the web, your TV, or your phone from anywhere in the world. Membership includes the full catalog and can be cancelled anytime.