20.12.23, 20:30, Tehran, City of Love (2018)

With the dawn of the winter solstice, we usher in the shortening of the nights and the lengthening of the days together with Kuleshov, the Ghent radio programme on Urgent.fm dedicated to film. The third Yalda Night is dedicated to Ali Jaberansari's Tehran: City of Love, in which three lonely people search for love and connection in the Iranian capital.

An ice-cream addicted receptionist puts on her sultry voice to seduce men over the phone, only to stand up all ensuing dates. A former bodybuilding champion now works as a personal trainer, and abandons his dreams to help train a promising young athlete. Finally, a singer for religious funerals is dumped by his fiancée. On the advice of a friend, he turns his life around and retrains as a singer for weddings. "Much more attractive to the ladies.”

Director Ali Jaberansari sketches a subtle and gentle triptych with Tehran: City of Love. The film turns the tragedy that love and life can bring, especially in an oppressive regime, into absurdist and moving storylines. Before the screening, we will gather for tea and Persian poetry.