A young girl seeks to make the most of her childhood before it’s set to end, on the morning of her ninth birthday. When the shadow cast by her makeshift sundial disappears, she’ll no longer be allowed to play with her boy best friend. A young woman fiercely peddling in a beachside bike race is pursued on horseback by her angry husband, who forbids her from cycling. An elderly woman inherits a small fortune and goes on a shopping spree to buy all the things she never could before.

Shot on the Persian Gulf island of Kish, the white sands and glistening water provide a stark backdrop for a powerful story of women’s attempts to navigate and negotiate ownership of their own lives.

This June, join our LUMI Programmers in celebrating the powerful representations and censorship-defying contributions of Women in Iranian Cinema.