Amir loves Narges, and Narges loves Amir. They dream of building a life together – but when Amir loses his job, the promise of marriage seems to recede into the distance: the bridal price is just too high. In the hopes of being able to overcome class differences with hard work, Amir hires on with a fishery on the raw Caspian Sea coast, where he becomes entangled in the criminal machinations of unlawful caviar poaching. Things start to spiral out of control for Amir, endangering his relationship with Narges too.

With his visually striking debut film EMPTY NETS, director Behrooz Karamizade spins a poetic love story while painting a haunting portrait of the young generation in today’s Iran – telling of their hopes for a freer future and shedding light on the perilous paths Iranian refugees must resort to in these troubled times.

Behrooz Karamizade was born in 1978 in Ahwaz/Iran. In 1984, together with his family, he emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany via the Soviet Union and the GDR. From 2005 to 2013, he studied Film Directing at Kassel’s Academy of the Arts. With his graduation film BAHAR IN WONDERLAND he took part in over 150 film festivals and won 20 awards, including the German Human Rights Film Award in 2014. EMPTY NETS is his feature-film debut.

Filmography (selection): 2008 PACKING (ex 22), 2009 KINDSEIN IM IRAN, 2013 BAHAR IN WONDERLAND, 2019 LAKE OF HAPPINESS (all short films), 2023 EMPTY NETS

Awards (selection): Special Jury Prize (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czechia 2023), Promotion Award “New German Cinema – Production” to Uschi Feldges (Filmfest München, Munich/Germany 2023)