Director: Rouhollah Zarif

Cast: Akbar Madadimehr, Ezzatollah Jameie, Hossein Abbasi, Maryam Khodarahmi, Safa Aghajani

Shokolate Talkh is a 2025 Iranian drama film directed by Rouhollah Zarif, following an idealistic engineer whose single-minded dedication to a classified satellite project leaves him dangerously blind to the forces gathering around him. The 80-minute feature blends workplace tension with themes of loyalty, security, and personal cost.

What is Shokolate Talkh about?

An elite engineer works alongside a tight-knit team on the design and development of a domestic satellite program. When warnings circulate about foreign interference and cyber-espionage threats aimed at derailing the project, most colleagues pull back and adjust their behaviour. The protagonist presses forward, dismissing the alerts as distractions. His stubbornness draws the attention of adversaries and strains his relationships both inside the facility and at home, setting off a chain of professional and personal crises he did not anticipate. The film unfolds his unravelling with quiet, accumulating pressure rather than explosive incident, asking what the true price of dedication looks like when the environment around you shifts.

Cast & crew

Director Rouhollah Zarif steers a cast of seasoned Iranian performers. Akbar Madadimehr leads as the engineer whose conviction becomes his liability. Ezzatollah Jameie, Hossein Abbasi, and Shahrouz Ebrahimi fill out the project team, while Maryam Khodarahmi and Shiva Khosromehr bring weight to the domestic and interpersonal dimensions of the story. Safa Aghajani rounds out the ensemble.

Context & significance

Iranian cinema has long explored the friction between individual idealism and institutional pressure, from the quiet domestic dramas of the 1990s through to contemporary socially engaged films. Shokolate Talkh sits in that tradition while turning its lens on a distinctly modern anxiety: the vulnerability of technological infrastructure and the human cost of classified work. For diaspora viewers who grew up watching Iranian state-sponsored science narratives, the film offers a more ambivalent portrait — one where patriotic commitment does not guarantee protection or recognition. Its Social Drama classification signals a grounded, realist approach rather than spectacle.

Where & how to watch

Shokolate Talkh is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. You can stream it on the web, your TV, or your phone with no geo-blocking and no VPN required. Subscribe and cancel anytime.