Director: Mohammad Reza Khavari
Cast: Siavash Cheraghpoor, Khorshid Cheraghpoor, Iran Masoudi, Mohsen Darsanj, Farzin Delfani
Sabaa is a 2022 Iranian short film directed by Mohammad Reza Khavari, running just thirteen minutes yet carrying the weight of an unspoken family truth. The film follows a young girl and her father on what begins as a festive outing to a football match — and quietly becomes something far more lasting.
What is Sabaa about?
A father promises his daughter Sabaa an exciting afternoon at the stadium to cheer on their favorite football team. The two set off together in high spirits, but along the way the father steers them into a quiet coffeehouse instead of heading straight to the game. Seated across from each other in that small, unhurried space, he chooses the moment to share something he has been keeping from her — a piece of truth that reframes the entire day. The film holds that coffeehouse scene at its center, letting the conversation between father and daughter carry all the tension usually reserved for much longer stories. Nothing dramatic happens on screen; everything happens in the silences and glances between the two characters.
Cast & crew
The film stars Siavash Cheraghpoor and Khorshid Cheraghpoor in the central father-daughter roles, with Iran Masoudi, Mohsen Darsanj, and Farzin Delfani rounding out the supporting cast. Director Mohammad Reza Khavari keeps the ensemble deliberately small, allowing the intimate two-hander dynamic between the leads to breathe within the confined coffeehouse setting.
Context & significance
Short films occupy a vital but often overlooked corner of Iranian cinema, and Sabaa is a good example of the tradition. Iranian short filmmakers routinely work within tight constraints — runtime, budget, location — and respond by focusing on the architecture of a single scene or relationship. For diaspora viewers who grew up watching feature-length Iranian dramas, a short like Sabaa offers a concentrated reminder of what Persian storytelling does best: finding the monumental inside the ordinary. The football stadium as a promised destination and the coffeehouse as the actual destination is itself a small metaphor that will feel familiar to anyone who has had a parent choose a quiet corner rather than a crowd to share something important. The film's restraint speaks to a wider Iranian short-film movement that values emotional precision over spectacle.
Where & how to watch
Sabaa is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. You can stream it on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime.