Fireflies

Ramin escapes the persecution he faced in Iran and finds himself in the Mexican port of Veracruz. He did not want to come here; it is simply somewhere he cannot go back from. He does not speak the language, nobody knows him, and there is nothing to wait for. In time he meets new people and is caught between longing for the life he left behind and what is possible here. Bani Khoshnoudi's film tells exile not as a large drama but as a state of waiting: the day passes, work is found, evening comes, nothing moves forward. The tropical heat and the noise of the port make that standstill heavier still. Ramin's homosexuality is one of the reasons he had to leave Iran, but the film gives it as part of his life rather than as an explanation. Arash Marandi is in the lead.