OPPONENT
Iman is forced to flee Iran with his family in the aftermath of a devastating rumor. As refugees, they end up in a run-down hotel in northern Sweden. Despite feeling powerless, Iman tries to maintain his role as the family patriarch but he breaks a promise to his wife and joins the local wrestling club. He turned back to the sport in hopes of speeding up his asylum application by trying out for the Swedish national wrestling team. This, however, leads to the revelation that the real reason he left Iran was that one of his former teammates outed him to the community as a closeted gay man.
Milad Alami was born in 1982 in Tehran, Iran, and he left for Sweden with his family when he was a child, as a refugee. He is a director and writer, graduated from the National Film School of Denmark and he currently lives in Copenhagen. His 2015 short film Mommy won the Robert Award for Best Short Fiction/Animation at the 33rd Robert Awards in 2016. He released his feature-length debut The Charmer (2017) which won Silver Hugo at Chicago IFF.
Seattle IFF – Special Jury Prize in Official Competition for Actress
World Cinema Amsterdam – Jury Award for Best Film
Persian IFF – Golden Gazelle Award for Best Feature Film
OPPONENT (ff.)
DIRECTOR: Milad Alami
COUNTRY: Sweden, Norway
YEAR: 2023.
RUNTIME: 119’
LANGUAGE: Swedish, Persian
CAST: Payman Maadi, Marall Nasiri, Björn Elgerd
PRODUCTION: Ape&Bjørn, Tangy
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FIRST TWO STEPS