Septembers of Shiraz is a 2015 American drama, paced like a thriller, directed by Wayne Blair and adapted from the debut novel by Iranian American author Dalia Sofer. It runs a little under two hours and keeps its attention on one household rather than on the wider events moving around it.
What is Septembers of Shiraz about?
The story centres on a secular Jewish family living in Iran as the upheaval of 1979 reorders the country around them. What begins as settled domestic routine — work, school, a comfortable home, the habits of people who assume tomorrow will resemble today — loses its footing as authority changes hands and long-standing certainties stop holding. The family's position, once taken for granted, becomes an open question, and the distance between public life and private life narrows until the two can no longer be kept apart. The film works at close range, letting the scale of the period register through its effect on a few people rather than through crowd scenes.
About the cast
The ensemble is an international one. Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek lead, with Gabriella Wright, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Bashar Rahal, Alon Aboutboul, Anthony Azizi and Nasser Memarzia completing the principal cast recorded in our catalogue. The playing is largely interior, a restrained register built on what is withheld rather than declared. Individual roles are not assigned on this page.
Context & significance
The source is Dalia Sofer's first novel, which drew considerable critical attention on publication, and the adaptation carries its central premise to the screen: a family story set during a moment of national transformation. Wayne Blair directs, and the production is American rather than Iranian, so the film belongs among international titles built on Iranian subject matter rather than among Iranian cinema. Our catalogue records two genre labels, drama and thriller, and both are earned: the drama sits in the family relationships, the tension in the uncertainty gathering around them. The events of 1979 function here as historical setting, the backdrop against which the household's circumstances shift. Critical reception on release was mixed, with the performances generally singled out more warmly than the screenplay.
Watching Septembers of Shiraz on Ktime
Septembers of Shiraz is available to stream on K-Time. This page is free to read without signing in; playback requires a K-Time account, which takes only a moment to create. K-Time is built for Persian-speaking viewers abroad, with a Farsi interface.