Requiem for a Tribe

Description

Official Selections/Screenings
Shanghai International Film Festival – Documentary Competition
Ji-hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Budapest International Documentary Film Festival
Ajyal International Film Festival – Hial Feature film Competition
True/False Film Fest
Docs Barcellona 2025 – Competition Section

Trailer

Synopsis

Fifty-five-year-old Hajar has spent her entire life in the nomadic Iranian tribe of Bakhtiari. She feels betrayed and disappointed by her closest family, who want to force her to settle down and live out her remaining years peacefully in the city. Despite challenging circumstances—including a patriarchal social system, increasing urbanization, and the impact of climate change—Hajar refuses to give up her flock of sheep or her nomadic freedom.

In her deeply empathetic and partly personal documentary debut, director Marjan Khosravi paints a powerful portrait of a strong woman who, even in the face of turbulent modernity, refuses to be stripped of the things she values most: her memories, traditions, connection to nature, and the joy of free movement.

Director

Marjan Khosravi is a rising Iranian filmmaker whose work centers on women’s rights and social issues in Iran. Her acclaimed mid-length documentary The Snow Calls (IDFA 2020) won Best Feature Documentary at Big Sky and was broadcast by VGTV and ORF. In 2021, her short The Dream of a Horse was nominated at the Krakow Film Festival and aired on POV/PBS and EBS.

Her 2023 film Mrs. Iran’s Husband won Best Short Film at Hot Docs and earned additional awards at major international festivals, including Fribourg IFF. In 2024, she premiered her first feature, Requiem for a Tribe, at the Shanghai International Film Festival. A co-production with Lukimedia and Al Jazeera, the film won support from Hot Docs and DMZ and will have its European premiere at Ji.hlava.

Marjan is currently developing her second feature, Dreams of the Wild Oaks, with support from Catapult, IDFA Bertha, Vision du Réel, AJB Docs, and Sunny Side of the Doc.