Director: Amir Ghavidel
Cast: Ali Nazemi, Areyan Khalaj, Azar Gholami, Mahsa Mahjour, Mitra Hajjar
Rokhsareh is a 2000 Iranian drama film directed by Amir Ghavidel, running 92 minutes. The film unfolds at the intersection of psychology, aging, and storytelling, following a graduate student whose fieldwork brings her into contact with a world of memory and narrative she did not expect.
What is Rokhsareh about?
Tina Masrour is a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in gerontological psychology. As part of her research, she visits a retirement home to gather data and conduct interviews. There she encounters an elderly woman who is absorbed in recounting a story — a tale she calls Rokhsareh. The encounter draws Tina deeper into the woman's world, where the boundaries between the story being told and the lives being lived begin to blur. What starts as an academic exercise gradually shifts into something far more personal, as Tina confronts questions about memory, identity, and the way older generations carry and transmit experience. The film builds its emotional weight quietly, through conversation and observation rather than dramatic incident.
Cast & crew
The film is directed by Amir Ghavidel and features a cast that includes Ali Nazemi, Areyan Khalaj, Azar Gholami, Mahsa Mahjour, Mitra Hajjar, Mohammad Ali Sepanlou, Sepideh Arab, and Shaghayegh Amini. The ensemble brings together performers from Iranian cinema and theater, grounding the film's intimate, dialogue-driven story in naturalistic performance.
Context & significance
Iranian cinema of the late 1990s and early 2000s produced a significant body of work exploring the lives of women across generations — their interior lives, their relationships, and the stories they inherit or pass on. Rokhsareh fits within this tradition, centering on an intergenerational encounter that uses the frame of academic research to open questions about how personal history is stored and shared. For diaspora viewers who grew up with or alongside Iranian grandparents and elders, the film's setting in a retirement home and its focus on oral storytelling will carry particular resonance. The premise also speaks to the experience of cultural transmission: how narratives survive, transform, and shape identity across time.
Where & how to watch
Rokhsareh is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. No dubbing or Persian subtitles are included in this presentation. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime.