Numb

According to Iranian law, boys and girls are required to be educated separately. An exception is made for kindergarten, where boys and girls share the room. Six-year-old Roham is in his last kindergarten year and is starting to become curious about intimate relationships. The headmaster hires a cleric to teach the children proper ethical and religious standards – a prelude to the way things will be in their future lives. Roham remains curious and discovers dark secrets in the lives of bully Azad and the quiet girl Rana.

After Paat (2013), this second feature by Iranian filmmaker Amir Toodehroosta tells a sensitive story in which a child's innocence clashes with the raw reality of adults. Though the story is told through the eyes of the children, it becomes clear that everything revolves around the contrast between freedom and suffocating state control.