Director: Hamid Zargar Nezhad
Cast: Majid Salehi, Behrang Alavi, Sahra Asadollahi, Hossein Ebadi, Sahar Golshirazi
Shomareh 10 is a 2024 Iranian war drama directed by Hamid Zargar Nezhad, following a unit of Iranian soldiers trapped inside a residential neighborhood that has fallen under siege from foreign forces. At 103 minutes, it is a taut, ground-level portrait of survival under relentless pressure.
What is Shomareh 10 about?
A quiet civilian district is suddenly overrun by the chaos of war when a foreign assault transforms ordinary streets into a front line. Cut off from reinforcements and surrounded by collapsing infrastructure, a small contingent of Iranian soldiers must hold their position while also managing the safety of civilians caught in the crossfire. Each man carries personal stakes — families waiting, unfinished business, competing loyalties — that complicate every tactical decision. The film traces how the group navigates impossible choices inside a shrinking perimeter, where the line between duty and self-preservation grows harder to draw with every passing hour. The neighborhood itself becomes a character: familiar domestic spaces turned into fortifications, the mundane details of ordinary life now freighted with desperate meaning.
Cast & crew
The ensemble is led by Majid Salehi and Behrang Alavi, two of Iranian cinema's more reliably grounded dramatic performers, whose contrast in temperament gives the squad its internal tension. Sahra Asadollahi, Hossein Ebadi, Sahar Golshirazi, Abbas Kakavandi, Siamak Safari, and Milad Sharifi round out a large cast, each assigned a distinct presence within the unit.
Context & significance
Iranian war cinema has a long tradition stretching back to the Sacred Defense films of the 1980s, but more recent productions have moved toward intimate, character-driven stories that question the human cost of conflict rather than celebrate it. Shomareh 10 — "Number 10" — places itself within that quieter tradition, focusing on a single besieged location rather than sweeping battlefield spectacle. For diaspora audiences who grew up hearing family accounts of wartime Iran, this kind of close-quarters story carries a specific emotional weight: it is less about ideology than about the texture of fear, loyalty, and ordinary life interrupted. The film belongs to a growing wave of Iranian productions that are finding international streaming audiences without compromising the specificity of their local setting.
Where & how to watch
Shomareh 10 is available now on K-Time, streaming with original Persian audio and English subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no geo-blocking, no VPN required. Start and cancel anytime.