Join us for the Closing Night Award Ceremony of the 12th Persian Film Festival. Meet the Festival Jury as they announce the winners of this year’s Golden Gazelle Award and enjoy the screening of SUNSHINE EXPRESS by Amirali Navaee.

“The film is a sumptuous allegory, examining how totalitarian systems sustain themselves through collective complicity. Navaee combines this with the competitive elements of a reality game show and more than a little Kafka to create a world that reflects on the lives of the people playing the characters. The theatrical role-play offers no freedom, only heightened entrapment, as contestants navigate a world where the notion of choice is an illusion and coercion is not always imposed by force, but through psychological and emotional manipulation. In a world ruled by fear, Navaee’s increasingly taut drama suggests that even the virtuous can be driven to perform the cruellest acts.” – Vanja Kaludjercic