To leave or not to leave. That’s the question. Writer and director Amir Azizi (Two Dogs, Temporary) follows a young man in Tehran, Iran on the verge of emigrating in his latest feature, Inside Amir.
“Amid scattered memories, unfinished conversations, and slow-moving days, he faces a decision he hasn’t fully made yet: to leave or to stay,” reads a synopsis for the movie. “The only thing he refuses to part with is his bicycle – a companion through the city’s streets and a symbol of his past.”
And it highlights: “As his departure to join Tara, his girlfriend now in Italy, grows closer, we learn how years ago, their relationship kept him from joining a family trip that ended in tragedy. Tara became more than a partner – she came to represent the life he was spared.”
The cast of Inside Amir is led by Amirhossein Hosseini (Amir). Hadis Nazari (Tara), Nader Pourmahin, Nariman Farrokhi, Pirouz Nemati, Sohrab Mahdavi, Elham Azizi, Sajjad Hamidian, and Delaram Kamareh also feature in the film.
Azizi also handled the editing of the film, while the cinematography is courtesy of Ali Ehsani. The music is by cast member Delaram Kamareh, sound by Omid Karim, and Sarah Gerami was responsible for production design and costumes.
The movie from Fog Films world premieres in Venice’s Venice Days, or Giornate degli Autori, on Sept. 4.
“The film swings between past and present – friendships, late-night anxiety, and a city Amir is still tied to,” Azizi says in a director’s statement. “Inside Amir is a quiet meditation on the emotional distance between staying and leaving – not about what’s right or wrong, but what remains unresolved.”
‘Inside Amir’
Courtesy of Giornate Degli Autori
And he highlights: “Inside Amir is rooted in personal experience, but it aims to speak in a universal cinematic language. It portrays a young man drifting through a city filled with memories, loneliness, and silent transformations. I’m drawn to the poetry of ordinary life – to the subtle rhythms of streets, bodies in motion, and moments that seem quiet but are emotionally charged. Rather than focusing on plot or dialogue, this film explores presence, space, and human vulnerability.”
A trailer, which THR can exclusively premiere, shows Amir and others on bikes. And we hear the protagonist sharing that people don’t see the light that he says he feels on the inside: “They think I’m sad. They think I’m broken.”
Watch the trailer for Inside Amir below.