A former university professor now living as a goldfish farmer in a Northern Iranian village, Reza quietly tends to his own affairs alongside his wife Hadis, a principal at a local girls’ school, and their young son. After his river-sourced water supply is cut off, Reza’s goldfish begin dying. His attempt to reopen his sluice is met with a violent attack by thuggish local Abbas, a strongman for a shadowy organization known as simply “the company.” Reza refuses to compensate Abbas for a fake injury, or bribe his way out of mounting legal problems, but he quickly discovers the steep price to be paid for holding on to principles in a system where money trumps morality.

With his new film, Rasoulof poses an important question: is it possible in Iran to fight the oppressor so that he does not get his hands dirty? The director of “honest man” is Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof, the leading author of independent Middle Eastern cinema. His work has been banned in Iran. The film won the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes 2017 festival.