FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY (Chaharshanbe-soori)

A young woman gets a day job as a house cleaner for a middle-class couple. The apartment she enters is chaotic, a perfect reflection of the lives of its occupants. The husband and wife fight even in front of their new temporary maid. The wife is suspicious of her husband and thinks he is having an affair with another woman who keeps calling and hanging up. Rouhi is routinely fired and then rehired throughout the day. And then there is the mysterious beautician who illegally operates a business out of her apartment in the same building. At times comic, this film provides an intriguing slice-of-life view of modern-day Iran far from the simplicities of headlines and political ranting. -- Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society