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is proud to partner with the prestigious American Film Institute

for the 12th year in a row in presenting all the Iranian films at the 2026

LOS ANGELES PREMIERE

I Deserve a Lover

Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies

A Film by Mani Haghighi

OCTOBER 23, 9:15PM

(Chinese 3 Theater)

Exclusive Farhang Discount Code: FarhangxAFI2026

Making good on its attention-grabbing and poetic title is an unorthodox documentary befitting subjects Nasser Bakhshi and Roghayeh Najdi, married artists and collectors residing in Tabriz in northwestern Iran. Drawing from disparate sources across the country, Nasser and Roghayeh serve as curators for an archive of found ephemera and uncovered personal belongings ranging from soil samples to furtive love letters of forbidden passion. A bit of a curio in his own right, Nasser’s strict and sometimes hypocritical expectations of his staff provide a fascinating look into the mind of someone dedicated to preserving the past. Exploring the work and artistic process of the couple alongside their approach to collection and curation, filmmaker Mani Haghighi uses I DESERVE A LOVER WHOSE EVERY RISE SETS FIERY DOOMS RAGING ACROSS THE SKIES to paint an expressive and free ranging portrait of the importance for documentation of not just the facts of a nation but the culture of its people in all facets, a message made all the more urgent as bombs begin to fall and turn lives into memory. –Eli Prysant

Country: Iran

Year: 2026

Director: Mani Haghighi

Screenwriter: Mani Haghighi

Producer: Mani Haghighi

Executive Producer: Mani Haghighi

Director of Photography: Ali Ghazi

Editor: Mostafa Kherghepoosh

Production Designer: Amir Hossein Ghodsi

Costume Designer: Hoda Mirzaee

Music: Ramin Kousha

Running Time: 76 minutes

Languages: Persian, Turkish

Mani Haghighi is an Iranian filmmaker and writer who studied Philosophy at McGill University in Montréal. He has made eight feature films which have screened at major film festivals around the world, including MODEST RECEPTION (2012), A DRAGON ARRIVES! (2016), PIG (2018), SUBTRACTION (2022) and several documentaries.