Under the Shadow
7:30PM
Shideh and her family live amid the chaos of the Iran-Iraq war (known colloquially as The War of the Cities). Accused of subversion by the post-Revolution government and blacklisted from medical college, she falls into a state of malaise.
Conscripted to the army, her husband is sent to the frontlines leaving Shideh all alone to protect their young daughter Dorsa, all the while Tehran is under the constant threat of aerial bombardment. Not long after, a missile hits their apartment building and while failing to explode, a neighbor dies in mysterious circumstances. Following this, Dorsa’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbed and Shideh is slowly drawn into a mania in which she struggles to cling onto what is real and what is not.
Searching for answers, Shideh learns from a superstitious neighbor that the cursed, unexploded missile might have brought with it Djinn – malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits that travel on the wind. Convinced that a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess Dorsa, Shideh finds she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.
