Rooz-haje Narenji

Life is no picnic for 45-year-old Aban. She is the only woman in a male-dominated work environment. As a farm manager, she successfully beats her male competitor Kazem in a bid for a regional harvest job, for which she is even risking her own house as security. She is in charge of an all-female group of seasonal harvest workers on an orange plantation in Northern Iran. The youngest of her workers is only 17 and has a young baby that she cannot leave at home, which takes its toll on her work performance. The itinerant workers have to be housed somewhere close to the plantation. This leads to problems with the local police. The harvest drags on, funds are nearly exhausted and the women’s motivation is starting to wane. On top of that, some workers, who haven’t yet been paid, threaten to go on strike. But Aban cannot pay them until some of the harvest has been sold. It doesn’t take long for the male competitors’ envy and resentment to make itself felt. Acts of sabotage and a mysterious burglary in her warehouse mean that the first harvest disappears in its entirety. One evening, to top it all, her husband Majid decides to pack his bags and leave. (Festival information, Mannheim-Heidelberg 2018)