What would you risk everything for?
In the shadows of persecution in modern-day Iran, a determined young Bahá’í woman and a secular Muslim doctor fall in love against all odds—risking imprisonment, betrayal, and heartbreak as they fight to define their truth in a society that forbids it.
Synopsis
Cast Aside the Clouds
Layla Khosravi, a determined young Bahá’í woman, has spent her life enduring quiet surveillance and systemic erasure. Her faith, though forbidden, is the source of her strength. When she crosses paths with Dr. Sasan Naderi—a secular neurologist whose beliefs have long been shaped by the state’s dominant narratives—their unexpected connection sparks a journey of shared reckoning.
Their love grows in secret, tested by government scrutiny, religious tension, and the silence demanded of those marked as outsiders. But when Layla is wrongfully imprisoned for her beliefs, Sasan is awakened to the depth of injustice around him. Her quiet courage challenges him to see his world through new eyes—and to stand beside her in defiance.
As they face family pressure, institutional cruelty, and the threat of exile, their bond deepens into something more than romance: it becomes an act of spiritual resistance. Refusing to flee, they remain in Iran—not in spite of the danger, but because love, truth, and visibility demand their presence.
Set in the textured heart of Tehran, Cast Aside the Clouds is a powerful exploration of love as a form of protest, and the courage it takes to be seen in a world built to erase you.
Director’s Statement
Mary Darling
“This film grew from a deep longing to explore the intersection of identity, belief, and belonging—spaces often silenced or erased. At its heart is a Bahá’í woman portrayed not as a symbol, but as a full, complex human being. Her story reflects many who live with quiet courage in the shadows of repression.
Visually intimate and emotionally resonant, we used handheld cameras, natural light, and layered sound to mirror the tenderness and tension within her world. The contrast between warm domestic spaces and cold institutions reflects the film’s emotional landscape.
Cinema, for me, is an act of radical empathy. With co-directors Felicia Sobhani and Bre Vader, we created a work that invites stillness, breath, and deep seeing. This film is a love letter to those who remain visible despite erasure—and a call to meet each other with compassion and hope.”
—Mary Darling
Literary Inspiration
Although Cast Aside the Clouds is an original story, it draws deep inspiration from the quiet defiance and spiritual clarity of Khatut Utab (Utab’s Memories), a novel by Persian author Rouhieh Fanaian, written in the wake of Iran’s 1979 Revolution. For a Bahá’í woman to write such a work—at a time when her faith, gender, and voice were under direct threat—was an act of uncommon courage.
Fanaian’s novel was never officially published in Iran. Instead, it survived underground—passed hand to hand, read in secret, and safeguarded by a community long denied the right to tell its own stories. In writing Utab’s Memories, Fanaian performed a radical act of cultural preservation: she spoke truth in a time of forced silence.
Today, decades later, the novel still circulates online in both Persian and English—a testament to its enduring power across generations and borders. Though our film is not a retelling, its emotional core is rooted in the same soil: the resilience of women, the dignity of faith under fire, and the belief that even the most silenced stories will find their light.
Fanaian’s work reminds us: stories endure not because they are permitted—but because they are necessary.
To choose faith over fear
When everything around you threatens your existence
Production Background
Cast Aside the Clouds was created with deep intention.
Every element was shaped to reflect the story’s emotional honesty and cultural integrity.
The production was a quiet act of resistance and reverence, bringing together an international team committed to centering untold narratives with care.
Handheld Camera Work & Naturalistic Performances
To create a sense of immediacy and emotional intimacy, we used handheld cinematography and invited grounded, naturalistic performances from our cast.
While traditional tools like dollies, tripods, cranes, and Steadicam shaped the broader storytelling, handheld allowed us to step into the scene with the actors—capturing their emotions up close and connecting viewers directly to their inner lives with raw authenticity.
Real Footage from Tehran
Due to the political sensitivity of the film’s subject, we collaborated with a brave and anonymous filmmaker in Iran to capture real, on-the-ground footage from Tehran.
This footage, woven throughout the film, offers glimpses of the city’s overlooked beauty: its architecture, rituals, and rhythm of life. These scenes lend a tactile reality to the story and reflect the heart of a culture often misunderstood or misrepresented.
A Hybrid Score
The music bridges tradition and modernity, fusing Persian classical instruments with minimalist and jazz-inspired arrangements.
This hybrid score reflects the emotional dualities of the film—repression and freedom, fear and faith, fragility and strength—creating a resonant backdrop that deepens the film’s emotional pulse.
This all comes together in an original song titled “Cast Aside the Clouds” that was composed to play over the end credits.
Layered Sound Design
The sonic world of the film was crafted with care, blending the ambient hum of Tehran with subtle spiritual motifs, including whispered prayers and sacred chants.
Captured on location only months before production, this soundscape echoes the tension between public presence and private belief—external pressure and inner truth.
Through these creative choices, Cast Aside the Clouds honors those who live with courage in the face of erasure—and invites us not only to witness, but to reflect on and challenge our own inherited ideologies.
Do you want to see Cast Aside the Clouds in your local theatre?
