- Special Focus on Iran
LEILA’S BROTHERS
Synopsis
Leila (Taraneh Alidoosti) is forty and has spent her life looking after her parents and her four brothers. The family argues constantly and is drowning in debt, in a country that international sanctions are pushing to the brink of collapse. Leila has a plan: a joint business could let the siblings escape poverty. But the father (Saeed Poursamimi) is guarding a family inheritance that he wants to save as a gift, so as to be named patriarch of the clan at a wedding. Caught between loyalty and betrayal, the family spirals into a situation in which every lie begets another. “Leila’s Brothers” by Saeed Roustaee (Iran, 2022) is a family drama and a portrait of society at once.
Iranian director Saeed Roustaee tells his third feature over 165 minutes with the force of an ensemble piece: a country in which corruption, class struggle and clan rivalry speak the same language. In the Cannes 2022 competition, the film received the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prix de la Citoyenneté. It was banned in Iran shortly afterwards; Roustaee and his producer were sentenced to prison terms in 2023. “Leila’s Brothers” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2022 in the Special Focus on Iran section.
Festival
Shown at the 2022 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.
