Laleh (2022) on Netflix
In post-revolution Iran, Laleh wants to race cars, a sport long dominated by men. Old tradition, her family and the federation that governs Iranian racing stand in her way.
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- Netflix2.5/5
- IMDb4.9/10140 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
Laleh Seddigh is a young Iranian woman whose ambition is to race cars. Speed racing is among the most male-dominated sports in the world, and the society she lives in, formed after the revolution, has been shaped by a theocracy and by decades of male dominance. To reach a track she must defy old tradition, her family, religion and the federation that regulates car racing in Iran. The biggest difficulty she faces is not on the track but on the way there. She puts everything at risk for her right to race, and the route she opens is one that millions can follow.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Laleh (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Criticism during development led the film's original production team to resign. Jamal Shurjeh, a close friend of director Asadollah Niknejad, said Niknejad would make the film with the direct backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he had met on the president's trips to New York and won over.
- Bahareh Kian Afshar was announced as the film's lead at the Fajr Film Festival, but the choice was dropped because she was not fully familiar with English. Mahnaz Afshar had also been an earlier option before Sara Amiri was finally cast.
- As controversy grew, the film's estimated budget climbed from five million dollars to seven million and more, many foreign sponsors pulled out, and production came to a halt.
- Iran's parliamentary cultural commission ruled that making the film was not a cultural priority and demanded explanations from cinema chief Javad Shamaghdari and culture minister Seyed Mohammad Hosseini.
- The Center for Documentary and Experimental Film put 2.5 billion tomans into the film, a sum equal to two years of the center's budget for producing documentaries.
