Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness

Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (Persian: یلدا، شبی برای بخشش‎), original title Yalda (Persian: یلدا‎), is a 2019 Iranian film directed by Massoud Bakhshi.

The storyline of is based on an actual top-rating Iranian reality television show. In this story, a young woman convicted of the murder of her much older husband faces the next-of-kin of the victim (his daughter), who has the power to grant her forgiveness and save the perpetrator from the death penalty. The young woman must plead for her life, while viewers can vote by sms to help avoid the penalty by getting the sponsors to pay for the blood money.[1][2]

The actual TV show Mah-e Asal (meaning “Honey Moon”), aired daily from 2007 to 2018 during the Islamic religious festival of Ramadan, and often collaborated with Iran’s judicial system, which is based on Islamic law and includes the "eye for an eye" principle. The film has been transposed to Yaldā Night, an Iranian festival celebrated on the night of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.[1]

The film won the Grand Jury Prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and was nominated for the Grand Prix at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and for Best Screenplay at the Sofia International Film Festival. It was also nominated in various categories at the Bergen International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Pingyao International Film Festival,[3] and was selected for the Adelaide Film Festival.[4][2]