''Tatami'' is a 2023 film directed by

Guy Nattiv Guy Nattiv (born May 24, 1973) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and producer who lives and works in the United States. His film ''Skin'' won an Oscar for best short film at the 91st Academy Awards. As of May 2021, Nattiv and Moshe M ...

and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, from a screenplay by Nattiv and Elham Erfani. It stars

Arienne Mandi Arienne Mandi is an American actress best known for playing the lead character Dani Núñez in '' The L Word: Generation Q''. She has played minor roles in ''Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series), NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Agent X ( ...

, Ebrahimi, Jaime Ray Newman, Ash Goldeh and Sina Parvaneh. It had its world premiere at the

80th Venice International Film Festival 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

on September 2, 2023, receiving positive reviews from the critics and audience.

Synopsis

The film follows Iranian female judoka Leila (Arienne Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), who travel to the World Judo Championships, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. This includes a possible encounter with an Israeli athlete, something that the Mullah regime prohibits. Midway through the competition, Leila and her coach receive repeated threats from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and drop out of the tournament. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila faces a difficult choice: feign injury and comply with the Iranian regime as Maryam implores her to do, or defy them both and fight on, for the gold.

Cast

as Leila Hosseini * Zar Amir Ebrahimi as Maryam Ghanbari * Jaime Ray Newman as Stacey Travisi *

Nadine Marshall Nadine Panchita Marshall (born 30 September 1972) is an English television, stage, and radio actress. Education and career She studied at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and is best known for her performance as Sally in the British tel ...

as Jean Claire Abriel *Lirr Katz as Shani Lavi *Ash Goldeh as Nader Hosseini *Sina Parvaneh as Azizi *Valeriu Andriuță as Vlad *

Mehdi Bajestani Mehdi Bajestani ( fa, مهدی بجستانی; born January 12, 1975) is an Iranian actor. He is best known for his performance as Saeed Hanaee in the crime thriller '' Holy Spider'' (2022). Career He is member of the Naqshineh Theatre group ...

as Amar Hossein *Farima Habashizadeha as Justina *Elham Erfani as Assistant coach

Production

With Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi as co-directors, the project marks the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker. It is produced by Adi Ezroni and Mandy Tagger Brockey, alongside Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman from New Native Pictures. WestEnd Films acquired international rights in February 2023. Other production companies involved in the project include White Lodge Productions, Maven Pictures, Tale Runners and Sarke Studios.

Casting

In February 2023 the cast was revealed to include Arienne Mandi and Amir Ebrahimi in the lead roles, with appearances by Jaime Ray Newman, Nadine Marshall and Mehdi Bajestani.

Filming

In February 2023 the film was revealed by the

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

to be in post-production. First-look images from the film were released in May 2023.

Release

It had its World premiere at the

on September 2, 2023. and its Asian premiere at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on October 25, 2023. It was also screened in the 19th

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...

on October 2, 2023. In February 2024,

XYZ Films XYZ Films is an American film production and sales company founded in 2008 by Aram Tertzakian, Nate Bolotin and Nick Spicer, and is based in Los Angeles. It focuses on international genre films, including '' The Raid: Redemption'', '' The Raid 2'' ...

acquired US distribution rights to the film.

Awards

* Brian Award at the

* Special Jury Prize at the

36th Tokyo International Film Festival The 36th Tokyo International Film Festival is film festival that took place from October 23 to November 1, 2023. German filmmaker Wim Wenders served as jury president. The official poster for the festival was created by fashion designer Koshin ...

* Best Actress for Zar Amir Ebrahimi at the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Judo (film) Iranian drama films Judo films Films directed by Guy Nattiv