The world premiere of family drama Hijamat will be a bittersweet moment for Iranian writer and director Nader Saeivar (The Witness, No End, Namo). After all, the film was produced and edited by his long-time friend and creative collaborator Jafar Panahi. The auteur duo co-wrote Cannes 2025 Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident, but only Saeivar will get to travel to the world premiere of Hijamat in the Crystal Globe main competition at the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Wednesday, July 8.
Saeivar left Iran for Berlin in the middle of the shoot for Accident, making Hijamat his first feature fully made outside of the country. Karlovy Vary was hoping to welcome Panahi as part of the delegation for the film, but the filmmaker had returned to Iran following the Accident Oscar campaign. Recently, Iranian authorities took his passport, and he faces another prison term in Iran, following a verdict that found him guilty of “propaganda against the regime.”
In Hijamat, multihyphenate Kida Khodr Ramadan plays Murad, who struggles to protect his younger brother Kerem (Jael Cem Ilhan) when he finds out that the young sibling is gay. Long-buried secrets soon threaten to tear his deeply religious Muslim family and their life in Berlin apart. Nicolette Krebitz, Aziz Capkurt, Moritz Bleibtreu and Nastassja Kinski also feature in the film.
