Embedded Files
Ali, a blind man, is attempting to commit suicide when he is interrupted by the concierge of his building. He is informed that the police is in search of a woman who has escaped and hidden somewhere in the building. Little by little, Ali finds out that the fugitive woman, Leila, is inside his apartment. After participating in a workers’ protest that led to chaos, she is distraught about her four-year-old son who was lost when she was taken in a police van. Gradually, Ali becomes emotionally attached to her. Wishing to flee reality, helping Leila becomes a refuge in his own world of imagination.
Comments of the director
I remember that on June 15 ,2018 I received an audio file from one of the most important Persian literature poets, “Mohammadreza Shafiei Kadkani” urging all students, teachers, scholars, and artists in different fields to revive the public’s lost hope. His voice still resonates in my ears:“Without hope, we will never find the strength in us to stand up. Without hope, there will be no fresh air for us to breathe in. Without hope, we won’t have a life left to live.” And now, as I am searching for a way to begin a new story, I face a much more difficult question: How do we give hope to a public who has been wounded to its bones by misfortunes and cruelty? How do we give them hope to stand up, breathe and live again?
I was over at a friend’s place once when suddenly a poem stood out in my mind. At first, I did not realize that it was an answer to months of vertigo. I just recited it and then repeated it over and over. It was my answer! No more, no less:
"Imagine the world is asleep, and no letter arrives to its destination
Imagine some are far away or have never been around
Imagine that they take the bread away from the table, and the words from a book, blossoms from the trees and the smile from our lips
What will they do to our dreams?"
And this was the beginning of “Beyond the Wall.
Director’s biography
Vahid Jalilvand was born in Tehran in 1976. He is a graduate of Tehran University in Theater Directing. Jalilvand started his career as a theater actor and made his stage debut when he was only 15. In 1996, he started working in the Iranian State TV channels as an editor and then as a TV director. Later, he directed two home video series and more than 30 documentaries in social and industrial fields. He has directed and acted in many television series and plays. “Wednesday, May 9”, his first feature was awarded FIPRESCI Prize and the INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue in Orizzonti Competition of Venice 2015. “No Date, No Signature” was his second feature which was awarded the Best Director and the Best Actor in Orizzonti Competition of Venice 2017. “No Date, No Signature” was nominated as Iran’s representative to the 91st Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film, 2019. “Beyond the Wall” is Vahid’s third feature.
Selected director’s filmography
2022 - [ Beyond the Wall ]
2017 - [ No Date, No Signature ]
2015 - [ Wednesday , May 9 ]
Main Cast Biography
Navid Mohammadzadeh
Born in 1986 in Iran, from Kurdish region of Ilam, he studied acting at Haft Honar Cultural Institute of Karaj. He has performed in more than 33 prestigious plays so far and has performed in 16 features, among which are Mohammad Shirvani’s banned “Fat Shaker” (Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival/2014), Reza Dormishian‘s “I’m Not Angry!” (Berlinale/Panorama 2014 and the Best Actor Award of the Year at the Annual Award Ceremony of Iranian Society of Film Critics & Writers), a leading role in Ida Panahandeh’s Nahid (winner of the Promising Future Prize, Un Certain Regard of Cannes 2015) and in 2017 in Vahid Jalilvand’s “No Date, No Signature” for which he received the Best Actor award in the Orizzonti Competition of Venice 2017 and Best Actor Award, Tehran’s Fajr Film Festival 2017. He was in the Competition of Orizzonti Venice 2019 with Saeed Roustayi’s “Just 6.5”.
Diana Habibi
Born in 1991 in Faridan County in Isfahan Province of Iran, Diana Habibi is a Georgian-Iranian new actress who graduated from Arak University in Psychology. She attended Vahid Jalilvand’s training courses in acting and rhetorical skills. She has performed in two plays. “Beyond the Wall” is her first feature film.
Amir Aghaee
Born in 1975, he is an actor, writer, painter and photographer. Amir Aghaee is a well-known artist in the Iranian cinema who started his career as a pro- fessional actor in 1995. He began his work in cinema with “Low Heights” of Ebrahim Hatamikia in 2002 and has played in more than 26 features and 10 TV series and plays. He played one of his most prominent roles in “Death Is My Profession” by Amir Hossein Saghafi that was awarded in Busan Film Festival in 2011. Among his selected works are “Niloofar” (2008), “The Sec- ond Wife” (2008), “Saadat Abad” (Best Actor, Film Critics Society, Iran, 2010), “Private Life” (2011), “Hush, Girls do not Scream!” (2013), the leading role in Vahid Jalilvand’s “Wednesday, May 9” (Winner of Fipresci Prize and Win- ner of the INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue, Orizzonti Competition of Venice 2015) and again in Vahid Jalilvand’s “No Date, No Sig- nature” (Winner of the Best Director and Best Actor awards in the Orizzonti Competition of Venice 2017 and many other festivals). He received the Crys- tal Symorgh for the Best Supporting Actor in “Butterfly Swimming” in Fajr Film Festival, Iran, 2020. “Beyond the Wall” is his third collaboration with Vahid Jalilvand.
Main Cast
Navid Mohammadzadeh: Ali
Diana Habibi: Leila
Amir Aghaee: Dr. Nariman
Saeed Dakh: Inspector
Danial Kheirikhah: Mosleh
Alireza Kamali: Karimi
Main Crew
Director: Vahid Jalilvand
Scriptwriter: Vahid Jalilvand
Director of Photography: Adib Sobhani
Editor: Vahid Jalilvand
Assitant Director: Hassan Labafi
Set and Costume Designer: Keyvan Moghaddam
Sound Recordist: Dariush Sadeghpour
Sound Designer: Alireza Alavian
Makeup Designer: Iman Omidvari
Still Photographer: Sahab Zaribaf
Special Effects: Mohammad Baradaran
Continuity Supervisor: Neda Ghaedi
Stunt Supervisor: The late Arsha Aghdasi
Production Manager: Mohammad Sadeq Azin
Music: Olafur Arnalds, Mohammadreza Shajarian
Producer: Ali Jalilvand
Production company: Ali Jalilvand
Technical Details
Original film title: Shab, Dakheli, Divar
International film title: Beyond the Wall
Language(s) of the original version: Farsi
Running Time (min.): 126
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Exhibition format(s): DCP
Resolution: 2K
Color or B&W: Color
Original Framerate: 24fps
Sound: 5. 1
Existing subtitles: English and Italian
Duration: 90 minutes
Genre: Fiction (feature film)
Release year: 2022
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