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Veteran short-film director Ali Asgari’s feature debut is a deftly crafted Tehran nocturne. It begins with a young woman entering a hospital, claiming to have been raped and asking to see a doctor. Soon her boyfriend, posing as her brother, appears, and it immediately becomes clear that something else is afoot. Thus begins a journey through the night, from hospital to hospital, as the young couple tries to circumvent Iran’s restrictive treatment of premarital sex and women’s health, in search of a doctor to end her unwanted pregnancy. “Quiet and absorbing, Disappearance shows us the complex reality of Iran’s strict cultural mores while casting a compassionate gaze on the resilience of youth” (Dimitri Eipides, Toronto International Film Festival). (Dir.: Ali Asgari, Iran/Qatar, 2017, 89 min., DCP, Persian with English subtitles)