''When the Moon Was Full'' ( fa, شبی که ماه کامل شد, italic=yes) is a 2019
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
Narges Abyar
Narges Abyar ( fa, نرگس آبیار, born 8 August 1970) is an Iranian film director, author and screenwriter, best known for directing '' Track 143'', ''Breath'', and ''When the Moon Was Full''. The film Track 143 is adapted from Abyar's novel ...
. The film is based on the true story of the brother and sister-in-law of
Abdolmalek Rigi, the former leader of the
Jundallah terrorist group in the Iran's southeastern province of
Sistan and Baluchestan.
It won multi awards including the
Crystal Simorgh for Best Film
Crystal Simorgh for Best Film is an award presented annually by the Fajr International Film Festival held in Iran.
Winners and nominees
Most wins and nominations
Production companies
Notes
References
{{Fajr Inte ...
at the
37th Fajr Film Festival
The 37th Fajr Film Festival ( fa, سی و هفتمین جشنواره فیلم فجر) held from 1 to 11 February 2019 in Tehran, Iran. The nominees for the 37th Fajr Film Festival were announced on February 10, 2019, at a press conference.
Ju ...
.
Plot
The film tells the story of
Abdolhamid Rigi
Abdolhamid Rigi ( fa, عبدالحمید ریگی) (also spelt ''Abdul-hamid Rigi'' or ''Abdulhamid Rigi'') (c. 1979 – May 24, 2010) was the elder brother of the detained leader of Jundallah, Abdolmalek Rigi. Like his brother, he was a member o ...
and Faezeh Mansuri, who meet when Abdolhamid is working in a store at a
bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
in
Zahedan
Zahedan ( Balochi and fa, , ' ) is a city and capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 587,730.
The city was the site of a deadly crackdown in October 2022, with dozens citizens killed by pro- ...
where Faezeh and her mother are customers.
Abdolhamid is the younger brother of
Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of the
Jundallah (Soldiers of God) terrorist group who terrored in southeastern Iran while supported by Taliban.
Abdolhamid marries Faezeh and forces her to move to Pakistan, along with her brother Shahab.
Faezeh and Shahab become caught up in the activities of Jundallah.
Faezeh's family discovers she has been taken captive by Jundallah in Pakistan.
The terrorist group beheads Shahab because they believe he is an Iranian agent.
Abdolmalek Rigi calls Faezeh and Shahab's father, and tells him to watch a video of his son's beheading on
Al-Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a flag ...
the following night.
Faezeh has a chance to escape from Pakistan but she chooses to remain there with her three children.
On Abdolmalek's orders, Abdolhamid kills Faezeh while she is sleeping.
In 2010, Abdolmalek is traveling to Bishkek from
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
on a regular
Airbus plane when an Iranian intelligence officer forces the plane to land in Iran, leading to the arrest of both Rigi brothers and, after a court finds them guilty of dozens of criminal acts, their execution the same year.
At the time, Iranian officials accused the U.S. and some Arab countries of funding Abdolmalek Rigi's activities.
The unnamed officers who arrested the Rigi brothers tell the Iranian media that Abdolmalek had been on his way to a meeting with diplomat
Richard Holbrooke
Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...
near
Bishkek
Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...
.
Cast
*
Elnaz Shakerdoost as Faezah Mansuri
*
Houtan Shakiba
Hootan Shakiba (; born June 14, 1984) is an Iranian-Kurdish actor. He is best known for his role as Habib in ''Bachelors'' (2016–2019) which earned him a Hafez Award. Shakiba won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor for portraying Abdolhamid Ri ...
as
Abdolhamid Rigi
Abdolhamid Rigi ( fa, عبدالحمید ریگی) (also spelt ''Abdul-hamid Rigi'' or ''Abdulhamid Rigi'') (c. 1979 – May 24, 2010) was the elder brother of the detained leader of Jundallah, Abdolmalek Rigi. Like his brother, he was a member o ...
* Armin Rahimian as
Abdolmalek Rigi
*
Fereshteh Sadre Orafaee
Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy ( fa, فرشته صدرعرفایی, born 29 December 1962) is an Iranian actress. She is best known internationally for her role as Pari in '' The Circle'' (2000), which has won several awards including the Golden Lion ...
as the mother of the Rigi brothers
*
Pedram Sharifi
Pedram Sharifi ( fa, پدرام شریفی; born August 2, 1987) is an Iranian actor. He gained recognition after portraying Peyman Sabouri in the romance mystery drama '' The Accomplice'' (2020). Sharifi earned a Crystal Simprgh nomination for ...
as Shahab, the brother of Faezah
*
Shabnam Moghadami as Faezeh and Shahab mother
Production
Abyar traveled to related areas to collect information about the Rigi brothers and their ethnic group, the Rigi.
She presented Abdolmalek Rigi as a member of the Rigi ethnic group which has a background in the armed conflict in Sistan and Baluchestan.
In a press conference at the 37th Fajr International Film Festival, Abyar called the Rigi ethnic group "a respectable tribe" and said: "They wanted a film made to differentiate them from the Rigi brothers".
Producer Mahmoud Razavi posted on
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
: "I was interested in producing a television series about Abdolmalek Rigi a few years ago. I prepared a proposal and I gave it to a famous director of Iranian cinema. But he finally said to me, 'Dear Mahmoud, I love my life; they will kill me.
Reception
Critical response
Parviz Jahed, a freelance film critic and filmmaker, wrote: "The film has been given a particular face by Narges Abyar and she will find a special place among women in the Iranian cinema, because she worked on a rare subject that the female filmmakers in Iran are loath to act on, and that is terrorism".
Sociologist
Emad Afrough
Emad Afroogh (born 1956) is an Iranian sociologist and conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets ...
said in an interview with Khabar Online that "the film accurately depicts Islamic extremism and the culture of the
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian peoples, Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afgh ...
".
Journalist and screenwriter Keyvan Kasirian said about the film, "The new film of Narges Abyar is a romance in the face of extreme violence. Abyar's film has useful details, it transmits information on time, and despite its long history, it has a good rhythm and is not boring".
Film critic Fariba Oshowi stated, "Narges Abyar, as in many of her past films, has been dreaming of a fairy tale of women in her country".
Deborah Young of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', who attended the Fajr International Film Festival,
called the film "chilling, operatic storytelling".
[ She writes: "It's not a perfect film – characters' viewpoints shift like the sands, undercutting the build-up of suspense, and even the two-hour-plus running time is too short to do justice to the Al-Qaeda scenes. But what is lacking in depth is made up for in the passionate directness of the filmmaking".]
Awards
''When the Moon Was Full'' won the Crystal Simorgh
The Crystal Simorgh ( fa, سیمرغ بلورین) is an award given by Fajr International Film Festival, Iran's major annual film festival. It is awarded in several categories of ''International Competition'' as well as ''Iranian Cinema Compet ...
for best film at the 37th Fajr Film Festival
The 37th Fajr Film Festival ( fa, سی و هفتمین جشنواره فیلم فجر) held from 1 to 11 February 2019 in Tehran, Iran. The nominees for the 37th Fajr Film Festival were announced on February 10, 2019, at a press conference.
Ju ...
in 2019. It also won in the categories of best film, best director (Narges Abyar
Narges Abyar ( fa, نرگس آبیار, born 8 August 1970) is an Iranian film director, author and screenwriter, best known for directing '' Track 143'', ''Breath'', and ''When the Moon Was Full''. The film Track 143 is adapted from Abyar's novel ...
), best actor (Houtan Shakiba
Hootan Shakiba (; born June 14, 1984) is an Iranian-Kurdish actor. He is best known for his role as Habib in ''Bachelors'' (2016–2019) which earned him a Hafez Award. Shakiba won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor for portraying Abdolhamid Ri ...
), best actress ( Elnaz Shakerdoost), best supporting actress (Fereshteh Sadre Orafaee
Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy ( fa, فرشته صدرعرفایی, born 29 December 1962) is an Iranian actress. She is best known internationally for her role as Pari in '' The Circle'' (2000), which has won several awards including the Golden Lion ...
), best makeup direction (Iman Omidvari), and best costume design.
After receiving the Crystal Simorgh awards, Abyar said: "I was never nominated for any award in my country and it made me sad. But now I won the Simorgh and this is really valuable to me". Producer Mohammad-Hossein Qasemi, Abyar's husband, donated his award to Azam Mohsendoost, the real-life mother of Faezeh and Shahab.
References
External links
*
{{Crystal Simorgh Best Film
2019 films
2010s Persian-language films
Iranian drama films
Films set in Pakistan
Films about terrorism in Asia
Drama films based on actual events
Films whose director won the Best Directing Crystal Simorgh
2019 drama films
Crystal Simorgh for Best Film winners