Director: Kourosh Asgari

Cast: Behdokht Valian Mozhgan Rabbani

Taaghi is a 2018 Iranian short drama film directed by Asgari, running eighteen minutes. Set on the water, it follows a female boatwoman who ferries passengers for a living and one day encounters a woman of the streets among her fares — an unexpected crossing that alters both of their worlds.

What is Taaghi about?

Every day, a woman rows her small boat across the water, taking passengers wherever they need to go. Her work is solitary and rhythmic, a quiet act of survival. When a particular passenger climbs aboard — a woman who earns her living in ways society refuses to see — the boatwoman does not turn her away. The short journey they share opens an unlikely space of recognition between two women whose lives have been shaped by different kinds of necessity. Neither attempts to rescue the other. What unfolds instead is a moment of quiet, honest reckoning — a shared passage that leaves both women changed in ways neither could have anticipated.

Cast & crew

The film stars Behdokht Valian and Mozhgan Rabbani in the two central roles. Both performers anchor the film's spare, dialogue-light approach, communicating a complex emotional terrain through expression and physical presence. Director Asgari draws understated, precise work from his leads, allowing the natural environment of the water to frame the encounter.

Context & significance

Iranian short cinema has long served as a proving ground for filmmakers working under production constraints, and Taaghi fits within a tradition of quiet, socially observant shorts that prioritize character and atmosphere over plot mechanics. For diaspora viewers, the film offers a glimpse of everyday Iranian womanhood that rarely surfaces in mainstream representations — a laboring woman on the water, invisible to polite society yet possessed of her own moral clarity. The subject matter, a brief solidarity between women across a social boundary, speaks to themes that resonate deeply for Iranian audiences who carry the weight of navigating between private understanding and public silence.

Where & how to watch

Taaghi is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No Persian subtitles or dubbing are included for this title. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime.