Title – A Good Day Will Come (2024)

Director – Amir Zargara

Cast – Sia Alipour, Mehdi Bajestani, Shoale Shahbazi

Plot – Inspired by a true story, Arash (Alipour) is a talented wrestler with dreams of representing his country of Iran on the national stage but the unrest the surrounds him threatens to derail his dreams as he battles to remain focussed on his ambitions and those of his people.  

“You have one job, and that’s wrestling”

Review by Eddie on 17/12/2024

Inspired by real events, with this powerful short film dedicated to Navid Afkari, an Iranian wrestler who was sentenced to death and executed after a wrongful conviction during the 2018 Iranian protests, Oscar qualifying short film A Good Day Will Come acts as a notable calling card for its filmmaker and main star. 

An Iranian immigrant who now calls Canada home, director Amir Zargara continues on his career behind the camera that begun with 2022’s Become the Wounded, working to shine a light on and give a voice to issues that sometimes don’t make their way into mainstream media, with A Good Day Will Come working both as a dramatic exploration of talented wrestler Arash’s conflicted journey focusing on his career and his country and as an exploration of Iran itself. 

Clocking in at 25 minutes in length, there’s a lot of ground covered in Zargara’s film in a brief amount of time and at the forefront is an impressive performance from Sia Alipour as Arash, showcasing a great understanding of his craft that his built in prior projects that he has been a part of in Netflix’s Fair Play or Apple TV’s Tehran while the films score by composer KB is a noteworthy one, giving the film a whole other dimension in the brief time allotted to it to do so. 

On evidence here there’s enough to suggest that as Zargara moves into the feature film space there’s a filmmaker worthy of being excited about, backed by a diverse background and passion for his subject matters, there’s a high likelihood that Zargara can become one of Canada’s most unique and notable directors should the stars align. 

Final Say – 

A short film with a powerful message and strong beating heart, A Good Day Will Come is a polished and engaging short film that gives its leading man and director a great foundation to build on. 

3 1/2 pieces of bread out of 5

Find out more about the film at the official website HERE