Holy Spider

Ali Abbasi, Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, 2022, 115'

This uncompromising film, based on true events that took place between 2000 and 2001, follows a journalist investigating brutal serial murders of prostitutes in the Iranian city of Mashhad. Many respect the murderer as a hero because he “cleanses” the streets of indecency and sin. This gripping thriller is a painfully realistic portrait and a strong condemnation of a society marked by a deeply rooted oppression of women. In Competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.