Summer with Hope

Omid has an important swimming competition coming up. Unfortunately, he misses the application deadline and the only contest he can enter is the sea-racing event – but open water swimming is an entirely different discipline from competing in the pool. He thus seeks help from a new coach. Yet, as the two young men develop a close alliance, the people around them look on with disapproval. As in her previous film Ava, here Sadaf Foroughi also focuses on adolescent protagonists subjected to the critical eye of an authoritarian society seeking to control and regulate the lives of the younger generation. In Summer with Hope Foroughi further develops her distinctive style based on visual storytelling and, within the genre of social drama, presents an original, atypical cinematic work. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)