Persian Lessons
June 16 - 22, 2023
A young Jewish man pretends to be Iranian to avoid being executed in a concentration camp.
1942. Gilles, a young Belgian man, is arrested by the SS alongside other Jews and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is assigned a seemingly untenable mission: to teach Persian to Koch, the officer in charge of the camp's kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Persia (Iran) once the war is over. Gilles finds himself having to invent a language he doesn't know, word by word. As the unusual relationship between the two men begins to incite jealousy and suspicion, Gilles becomes acutely aware that one false move could expose his swindle.
- Director: Vadim Perelman
- Principal Cast: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lars Eidinger, Jonas Nay, Leonie Benesch, Alexander Beyer
- Country: Germany, Russia, Belarus
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 127 min.
- Producer: Ilya Stewart, Murad Osmann, Pavel Buria, Timur Bekmambetov, Sol Bondy and Jamila Wenske
- Screenplay: Ilya Zofin
- Cinematographers: Vladislav Opelyants
- Editors: Vessela Martschewski
- Music: Evgueni Galperine
- Language: German, French, Italian, English
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- US Distributor: Cohen Media Group
- International Sales: Memento Films