Director: Hamid Hemmati

Cast: Sam Gharibian, Shahed Ahmadloo, Afsaneh Bayegan

Siahbaz is a 2021 Iranian drama-mystery film directed by Hamid Hemmati, set inside a peculiar house that seems to hold its visitors captive — not physically, but through forces that reshape who they are from the moment they cross the threshold.

What is Siahbaz about?

A group of people find themselves drawn into an enigmatic residence where ordinary life gives way to unsettling encounters and confrontations they never anticipated. The house operates on its own strange logic, pressing each visitor to reckon with hidden aspects of themselves. What begins as an ordinary arrival slowly reveals the dwelling's uncanny power to surface buried truths, forcing characters to face revelations about identity, memory, and the choices that define them — long before any of them can find a way out.

Cast & crew

Director Hamid Hemmati guides a cast anchored by Sam Gharibian, who carries the film's central tension with restrained intensity. Shahed Ahmadloo brings emotional complexity to a supporting role, while veteran actress Afsaneh Bayegan — one of Iranian cinema's most experienced performers — lends the production authority and depth that grounds its more unsettling moments.

Context & significance

Iranian genre cinema has long used closed, symbolic spaces — a house, a courtyard, a village — as mirrors for psychological and social pressure. Siahbaz follows in this tradition, using the uncanny house as a frame for examining how people behave when ordinary social rules dissolve. For diaspora viewers familiar with the existential strain of displacement and reinvention, a story about a place that forces personal transformation carries particular resonance. The film's 85-minute runtime is lean and focused, making it an accessible entry point into contemporary Iranian mystery filmmaking.

Where & how to watch

Siahbaz is available to watch on K-Time — on your browser, TV, or phone — with no VPN needed and no geo-blocking. The film plays in its original Persian audio. Subscribe and cancel anytime.