The Recess (2020)
0h 12m | PG-13
Sahar a 17 year old student is determined to skip high school during the recess to attend the football stadium to watch the football match between Esteghlal F.C. vs. Al-Ain as part of AFC Champions League against the national ban on women to enter football stadiums in Iran.
Director: Navid Nikkhah Azad
Studio: Shamid Films
Genre: Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Mojan Kordi
as Sahar
Reyhaneh Nabiyan
as Tahoora
Niloofar Shokouhinia
as Aida
Ghazal Khalili
as Sara
Reviews
"The Recess" is a short film of high value that gives the audience a good understanding of a tragic story based on true events; a true story with a missing point of beginning, a story no one knows the real facts behind it. The movie puts emphasis and stress on the smallest details of a sensitive situation. The dialogues between the four students (Sahar, Aida, Tahoora and Sara) are perfectly written, which is unparalleled among Iranian short films, for being so realistic. Director Navid Nikkhah Azad intentionally does not show the real tragedy which happened after school, and this makes the audience not to lose the image of the tragic self-immolation of Sahar Khodayari (Blue Girl) even for a single moment. Even those who have never heard of the tragic incident, can perfectly understand the movie and sympathize with the main character. The viewer is presented with texts explaining that Sahar Khodayari was caught, and later on, a possible sentence of six months in prison awaited her and to protest her sentence, she self-immolated until she eventually died from her injuries.