Fremont

In the past, Donya worked as an interpreter for the US army in Afghanistan. When the army left there, Donya went with them, leaving behind everyone she loved. Now she lives in Fremont, California, where she has a job in a small factory making fortune cookies. At night she lies brooding; she does want a different, happier life, but guilt gets in the way. She even seeks help from a psychiatrist. Things change when the person who writes the happiness aphorisms dies - from now on, Donya gets to write them and she does so in her own unique way. It is her way of sending her message into the world.

The work of Iranian-British director Babak Jalali has been compared to that of Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki. And indeed, there are common stylistic traits: deadpan humour and minimal acting. The debutant Anaita Wali Zada, who plays Donya, fits right into this picture: she performs her role dryly and understatedly. Shot in beautiful black-and-white on a 4:3 screen format.