Day Break (2006) — Iran

Mansour murdered his boss, that much is clear, and for his crime he sits on death row in Tehran's Ghasr Prison awaiting execution. What's not clear is why the family of the victim has remained absent on three execution dates. Is this mere coincidence? A form of deliberate torture? An act of forgiveness? In Islamic law the family of the victim must attend the execution of the convicted, and in their hands rests both retribution and pardon. Mansour's father begs for mercy. His pregnant wife gives birth while he's in prison. His fellow prisoners are carted to their own executions while inmates make bets on the outcome. Mansour is haunted by memory, nightmares, and, most of all, the tedium of waiting for his fourth execution date. That's forty long days, the period of mourning the victim's family must observe for a death in their own family. This film was an official selection at the Tribeca and Toronto festivals. In Farsi with English subtitles.