The film is a very moving account of a father’s struggle. What inspired you to tell his story?
This film is inspired by my own childhood when my dad was a journalist and he was imprisoned for two years.

How did you cast the film? And how did you work with the actors to re-create these subtle family dynamics?    
In this film, the female character has to work and be active, I chose an actress who is also a very capable actor and famous in Iran, she is naturally full of energy, in contrast to the male character who had been in prison for a few years, he should have been less energetic with a hard face, I had seen this actor in the movie A Man of Integrity, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, who was present at the Cannes Film Festival. To find a child actress, I auditioned a lot of child actors until I got to this little girl who had acted in TV commercial teaser. I really liked her face and she was very smart. I went to her house to play games, and between games, I would practice the movie sequences. Children should think that everything is really just a game. We had training sessions with male and female actors, but the child only practiced with the female actor and did not meet the male actor until shooting time, because I wanted them to be strangers to each other.

What’s your background as a filmmaker? What sorts of stories do you like telling?
I have two documentary films, one of which is called Finding Farideh that was the representative of Iranian cinema at the Oscars 2020. And I have four short fiction films and my previous film called The Visit was also in the Clermont festival and this will be my second time at this festival. I am interested in stories that are inspired by real society. Especially stories that are self-portraits.

What are your cinematic inspirations?
The Dardenne brothers and Abbas Kiarostami’s films.

What do you hope to work on next?
I have a short story script inspired by the recent events in Iran which is not unrelated to my previous works.

What’s your favourite short?
The first short films that attracted me were Krzysztof Kieślowski’s short films.

What does the Festival mean to you? 
Generally in my opinion, the artistic community in the world has no borders and forms a big family  and festivals are very useful  for gathering these  family members for cultural  exchange. I hope to find good connections here to produce the next film.

48 Hours is being shown as part of the International Competition I5.