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Farhang Foundation is proud to partner with the prestigious American Film Institute for the 11th year in a row in presenting all the Iranian films at the 2025 AFI FEST.

Divine Comedy

A Film by Ali Asgari

Oct 22, 3:30pm

(Chinese 5 Theater)

Oct 25, 9:15pm

(Chinese 4 Theater)

Notable Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari (co-director of TERRESTRIAL VERSES, AFI FEST 2023) blurs the lines between fiction and reality / cinema and truth in his latest feature, DIVINE COMEDY. Featuring rival filmmaker twins Bahram and Bahman Ark (as themselves), Bahram has just completed his newest film with producing and romantic partner Sadaf (Asgari, as her namesake). However, due to the film’s use of his native tongue Turkish-Azeri, they’ve been denied a local screening permit from the Ministry of Culture, again. Over the course of a single day, we follow Bahram and Sadaf — mostly on the back of her pink Vespa — through the streets of Tehran on a mission tinged with cinematic urgency: to screen their film in its original language… at home. Pure comedy ensues as the charming pair whisk from venue to venue in search of a willing party to host an underground screening of their banned film. With DIVINE COMEDY, Asgari continues to tackle themes of artistic expression and government censorship, this time commenting on the film industry as a whole — and slyly expanding the very notion of self-awareness in cinema. – Julia Kipnis

Country: Iran, Italy, France, Germany, Turkey

Year: 2025

Director: Ali Asgari

Screenwriters: Alireza Khatami, Bahram Ark, Ali Asgari

Producers: Milad Khosravi, Ali Asgari

Director of Photography: Amin Jafari

Editor: Ehsan Veseghi

Production Designer: Melika Gholami

Costume Designers: Melika Rostami, Melika Gholami

Music: Hossein Mirzagholi

Cast/Featuring: Bahram Ark, Sadaf Asgari, Hossein Soleimani, Mohammad Soori, Amirreza Ranjbaran, Faezeh Rad

Running Time: 98 minutes

Languages: Persian, Azeri

Ali Asgari is a prominent Iranian filmmaker whose films have received more than 200 awards. Asgari’s films focus on the precarious lives of individuals living on the margins of society in his native country Iran.