Iranian director Abdolreza Kahani (Twenty), whose films have played at Karlovy Vary, Thessaloniki and Sao Paolo film festivals, is making his English-language debut with psychological thriller Isthmus.
Writer-director Kahani emigrated to France in 2015 after three of his films were banned in Iran and he was prevented from submitting them to international festivals.
Shoot is underway in Canada on Isthmus, about a woman who loves her husband but struggles with the fear of being controlled by him. The Canadian cast includes Stephanie Jaskot, Reece Presley, Catherine Howard and Adam Daniel Mezei.