Closing Night Ceremony
Directed by Amirali Navaee
Iran, Sweden
100 mins
2025
A group of strangers boards the Sunshine Express, an immersive role-playing train journey promising self-transformation and a mythical destination called Hermia. What begins as a playful game quickly turns unsettling as the crew imposes strict rules, demands emotional obedience, and blurs the line between performance and control. As the passengers question what is real, they become trapped in a psychological experiment that exposes how easily people surrender their freedom when offered purpose, belonging, or escape.
Credits
- Director
- Amirali Navaee
- Writer
- Amirali Navaee
- Producer
- Sina Sharbafi, Babak Parham
- Cinematographer
- Hamed Hosseini Sangari
- Editor
- Rouzbeh Moharrer
- Music
- Ava Rasti
- Cast
- Sam Nakhai
Babak Karimi
Azadeh Seifi
Shayesteh Sajadi
Mohammad Aghebati
Sajad Hamidian
Amir Hossein Hosseini
Kiana Kermanian
Sydney – Palace Moore Park
Sunday 19 April | 5:30 pm
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
