“Tatami”: A dark political sports thriller new in cinemas

It is the first feature film to be co-directed by Israel and Iran

Iranian judoka Leila Hosseini (A. Mandi) fights for the gold medal – and her freedom (Photo: Judo Production/Juda Khatia Psuturi)

With serious, focused faces, Leila Hosseini, her coach Maryam Ghanbari and their team arrive in the Georgian capital Tbilisi to take part in the Judo World Championships. The young judoka passes the first competitions with flying colors, but then she is drawn into a completely different fight: When the course of the tournament shows that she will probably have to compete against an Israeli competitor, the Iranian Judo Association – and behind it the regime – want to force Leila to drop out.

The athlete is faced with the most difficult decision of her life. Should she obey – or should she continue to do her best even though her family in Iran is threatened with persecution and punishment?

“There is a long list of Iranian Athletes from different sports who have experienced what Leila is ordered to do,” says Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi in an interview about her directorial debut “Tatami,” in which she also plays the trainer Maryam.

“They had to fake an injury and withdraw from the competition. In the 45 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s existence, we are not allowed to work with Israeli people, compete against them or meet them because Israel does not exist for Iran. So they say: We do not respect you as a nation.” And in doing so, they also oppressed their own population.

“Tatami,” a grim political sports thriller, is itself a special film – the first feature film to be co-directed by Israel and Iran. Director Guy Nattiv, who grew up in Tel Aviv and lives in Los Angeles, asked Amir Ebrahimi, who was initially only hired as an actress, to direct the film with him.

The 43-year-old Tehran woman agreed gladly. The actress, who became known in her home country as a soap opera star, has been living in exile in Paris for almost 20 years. After allegations of involvement in a sex video – Amir Ebrahimi himself always denied this – she feared an unfair trial and left the country. In Europe she was able to continue her career; in 2022 she was named “Best Actress” in Cannes for her role in Ali Abbasi’s thriller “Holy Spider”.

As co-director of Tatami, Amir Ebrahimi first began to work on the script by Guy Nattiv and Elham Erfani, which sees friends become enemies in a story with limited space and time. Told in a single day and shot almost entirely in a judo stadium, the film shows the escalation of events in grim black and white and in a cramped 4:3 format. While Leila refuses to give up, Maryam tries to convince her otherwise.

“Guy Nattiv read an article about the Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who did not bow to the wishes of the regime in 2019 and fled to Germany,” says the director. “But the film is even more inspired by the similar fate of numerous female athletes, including boxer Sadaf Khadem and taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh. And during filming, we were influenced by the protests of women in Iran after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, such as her refusal to wear the hijab.”

Maryam, who Amir Ebrahimi worked on in particular, also represents the everyday experience of life in Iran: “You start to lie to yourself every day. You accept that you are this person and it is organic for you to obey. But then Maryam is inspired by the great, fearless Leila and rethinks her point of view.”

Arienne Mandi trained for months and became a real judoka. She gave everything for this film and shot almost every fight scene herself

Zar Amir Ebrahimi

Speaking of great: The lead actress Arienne Mandi shines in the film, which is at times overdramatically edited – in the middle of the competition, the scenery often jumps to Leila’s family – in the demanding role of a woman who pushes herself to her physical and psychological limits. For this role, the 30-year-old American with Iranian-Chilean roots took months of judo lessons.

“She became a real judoka,” Amir Ebrahimi enthuses. “All of those who compete against her in the film are real Georgian judokas. There were doubles present during filming, but we hardly ever needed them because Arienne did almost everything herself.”

Amir Ebrahimi deliberately leaves the end of her first directorial work open: “For me it remains unclear what happens to the characters. We don’t know whether their lives will take on colour afterwards or whether they will remain black and white.” The fact that at least the art of film is overcoming decades of enmity gives hope.

In cinemas from August 29th (OmU in Votiv, Admiral and Filmcasino)