Tehran: City of Love

Three lonely people, each looking for love in their own ways. This is hard enough in any big city – never mind in Tehran, where individual freedoms can’t be taken for granted. In a sexy voice on the telephone, an overweight receptionist seduces men who wouldn’t look twice at her real 'me'. In revenge, her sexy alter ego stands up every single one of the dates she makes. A former bodybuilding champion now earns a living as a personal trainer. When he gets a promising young sportsman as a client, he drops everything else; even a very promising acting job for a well-known French director. A singer at religious funerals is dumped by his fiancée. He tries to find new purpose in life by retraining as a singer at weddings and parties. That’s a lot more attractive to women, his friend assures him.

The protagonists’ search is subtly and gently sketched in this bittersweet tragicomedy supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. All three of them are looking for warmth and connection in a society that doesn’t embrace them back.