Dissident Iranian director Ali Ahmadzadeh takes us into the underworld of Tehran with Amir, a tender rebel who heals lost souls by distributing drugs.
Golden Leopard at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival
"Critical Zone is nocturnal, clandestine, and politically incendiary cinema. Ali Ahmadzadeh openly challenges Iranian censorship with a film shot secretly, using hidden cameras, fake permits, and pure adrenaline. [...] At the end of this long cinematic night, we are left shaken. Ahmadzadeh creates a fresco that is both a nightmare and an act of love, a "madhouse portrait" of Iranian youth: depressing because it shows a society that finds relief only in narcotics and the underground, but also liberating, because the very existence of this work—shot with indomitable inventiveness, awarded and discussed everywhere—demonstrates that free thought can thrive even in the harshest conditions. Goodnight Tehran - Critical Zone is therefore cinema and an act of resistance: not just a film, but an act of freedom that gives back a voice to those who, in the Iranian night, cry out to be seen and heard. Real cinema, real life, unmissable." (Giuseppe Sant'Elia)
The film is part of the series I Tulipani dell'Iran, in collaboration with the associations: Donne Libere Iraniane, Donna Vita Libertà Firenze, and Mabuse Cineclub.
