The film follows Iranian female judoka Leila (Arienne Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), who travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. This includes a possible
encounter with an Israeli athlete, something that the Mullah regime prohibits. Midway through the competition, Leila and her coach receive repeated threats from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and drop out of the tournament. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila faces a difficult choice: feign injury and comply with the Iranian regime as Maryam implores her to do, or defy them both and fight on, for the gold.[2]
With Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi as co-directors, the project marks the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker.[3][4] It is produced by Adi Ezroni and Mandy Tagger Brockey, alongside Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman from New Native Pictures.[5]
WestEnd Films acquired international rights in February 2023.[6] Other production companies involved in the project include White Lodge Productions, Maven Pictures, Tale Runners and Sarke Studios.[7]
Casting
In February 2023 the cast was revealed to include Arienne Mandi and Amir Ebrahimi in the lead roles, with appearances by Jaime Ray Newman, Nadine Marshall and Mehdi Bajestani.[8]
Filming
In February 2023 the film was revealed by the
Hollywood Reporter to be in post-production.[9] First-look images from the film were released in May 2023.[10]