Amirali Navaee’s 'Sunshine Express' Offers a Hopeful Perspective on Iranian Cinema

For Iranian writer and director Amirali Navaee, depicting his homeland goes beyond the prevailing themes of sorrow and hardship that have dominated recent cinematic portrayals.

Iranian filmmakers have frequently been in the spotlight over the past decade, often for their politically charged works and personal struggles. Mohammad Rasoulof, a prominent writer and director, fled Iran last year after receiving an eight-year prison sentence while completing "The Seed of the Sacred Fig," a film about a family fractured by protests violently suppressed by the government in 2022-23. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, earning a special jury award, and later received a nomination for best international feature at the Academy Awards.

Asghar Farhadi, another acclaimed Iranian director, earned Oscars for "A Separation" (2012) and "The Salesman" (2017). He notably boycotted the Academy Awards ceremony for his second win in protest of a U.S. executive order restricting entry from several predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran.

Jafar Panahi, whose film "Un Simple Accident" won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last month, has faced multiple imprisonments in Iran due to his work but continues to create films in defiance of governmental restrictions.

With his debut feature-length film, Navaee—also a choreographer and visual artist—chose to present a narrative that is more nuanced and less directly political than many of his contemporaries’ works. “Sunshine Express,” which premiered in February at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and will have its UK premiere at South by Southwest London, was filmed on a modest budget in a Tehran warehouse, with financial support from Navaee’s friends. The story revolves around participants in a role-playing game set on a train journey to a destination called Hermia, where they compete for a cash prize.