Director: Saeed Roustayi
Cast: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi, Soha Niasti
Zan Va Bache is a 2025 Iranian co-production drama directed by Saeed Roustayi, following a single mother whose carefully constructed plans unravel when crisis strikes her family. Running 131 minutes, the film is a sober, emotionally grounded portrait of maternal resilience set against the pressures of modern Iranian life.
What is Zan Va Bache about?
Mahnaz is a nurse working long shifts to keep her household afloat while raising her children largely on her own. She has finally found a path forward — a pending marriage to Hamid promises stability and a measure of happiness she has long deferred. Then her teenage son's expulsion from school sets off a chain of events that no one in the family anticipated. What begins as a disciplinary setback grows into something far more destabilizing: an unexpected and devastating blow that forces Mahnaz to set aside her own hopes and fight to protect the people she loves. The film tracks her as she moves between exhaustion and determination, navigating institutions, relationships, and her own limits.
Cast & crew
Director Saeed Roustayi, known for his unflinching examinations of social pressure in contemporary Iran, leads the film with a confident hand. Parinaz Izadyar carries the central role of Mahnaz with quiet authority, and Payman Maadi brings complexity to Hamid. Young actress Soha Niasti rounds out the central family unit.
Context & significance
Iranian family dramas have long explored the tension between personal ambition and communal obligation, and Zan Va Bache sits firmly in that tradition. For diaspora viewers, the film's portrayal of a working mother navigating a system that rarely works in her favor will resonate beyond borders. The Iran-France-Germany co-production suggests both international reach and the kind of artistic freedom that allows Roustayi to examine social institutions with candor. Viewers who connect with domestic Persian cinema — stories about ordinary people under extraordinary strain — will find this film richly familiar in its rhythms and deeply felt in its stakes.
Where & how to watch
Zan Va Bache is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. Watch on your TV, phone, or in your browser — no geo-blocking, no VPN required. Start a subscription and cancel anytime.