Rona, Madar-e Azim

The Afghan refugee Azim lives with his family in Teheran and works as a street sweeper at night. As the oldest brother he organizes an escape to Germany for his younger brother Faroogh and his family using a human trafficker, a smuggler. At the very last moment, however, an embarrassed Faroogh tells his brother of his decision to not send their mother, who is very attached to her grandchildren, with them. (...) Later Azim will learn that his mother is a diabetic and needs a donor kidney badly, otherwise she has only two more months to live. In his search for a donor Azim learns that it is against the law for Iranians to donate their organs to foreigners. And that makes him the only possible donor, even though his doctor strongly advises him against it. Now he, who himself cannot have any children as we learn, has to choose between his own life and his mother’s life … (Festival information, IFF Mannheim-Heidelberg 2019)