I felt duty bound to see this film by Mahnaz Mohammadi, supporting the sisterhood by going to see a film that said from the outset that it was about a woman being tortured in an Iranian prison.

I think this one is going to be polarising. Judging by the impassioned conversations I had with fellow MIFF goers after the film, I can see there are many different takes on its confronting structure and content.

One thing to try not to miss at film festivals is the rare films that don’t get any other platform for viewing. Narva Marbili’s The Sealed Soil is one of these, touted as the oldest surviving Iranian film directed by a woman.