PERSIAN LESSONS
Followed by a Q&A with Director Vadim Perelman

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch (Lars Eidinger), who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of “Farsi” every day and teaching them to Koch. The particular relationship between the two men sparks the jealousy of other prisoners and SS guards towards Gilles. And while the suspicions of Koch grow every day, Gilles understands that he will not be able to keep his secret very long…

Directed by Vadim Perelman
Written by Ilya Zofin
Starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lars Eidinger, Jonas Nay, David Schütter, Alexander Beyer, Andreas Hofer, Leonie Benesch, Giuseppe Schillaci
2h 7m