''When God Sleeps'' is a 2017 documentary directed by

Till Schauder Till Schauder (born 1971), is a German-born American filmmaker, film director, screenplay writer, film producer, actor and film instructor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and co-producer, Sara Nodjoumi. Early life Schauder was bor ...

and produced by Schauder and Sara Nodjoumi. It centers around exiled

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

musician

Shahin Najafi Morteza Najafipoor Moghaddam ( fa, مرتضی نجفی‌پور مقدم; born 1980), better known as Shahin Najafi ( fa, شاهین نجفی), is an Iranian musician, singer, composer, poet, author ...

, whose provocative lyrics resulted in Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani and Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi issuing separate

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

against Najafi for

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...

. The film premiered at the 2017

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

and received a German theatrical release beginning 12 October 2017.

Plot

Taking place in Germany throughout 2015, the documentary focuses on Shahin Najafi's life in exile as he struggles to produce music and embark on a tour whilst under the constant threat of danger. His long-distance romance with Leili Bazargan, the granddaughter of

Mehdi Bazargan Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ay ...

, Iran's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, also complicates things due to his status as an outspoken critic of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

Cast

as Himself * Leili Bazargan * Shahryar Ahadi * Majid Kazemi * Zahra Ashena * Michael Krol * Simon Scheibel * M.C. Augusto Stahlke * Nico Stallmann * BenTai Trawinski

Release

It had its world premiere at the

on 20 April 2017 and also received a limited German theatrical release in select cities beginning 12 October 2017. Aside from Tribeca, the film has screened at

Munich Film Festival Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Kraków Film Festival The Kraków Film Festival ( pl, Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy) is one of Europe's oldest events dedicated to documentary, animation and other short film forms. It has been organised every year since 1961. The Artistic President of the festival is ...

, and the

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

Refugee Film Festival, among others. It is also an official selection for IDFA 2017, to take place starting 15 November.

References

{{cite web , title=When God Sleeps (original title) , url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6627682 , website=IMDb 2017 films 2017 documentary films