One Good Day
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Logline
In today’s Iran, where war and economic hardship unfold alongside restrictions and growing repression, a group of young Iranian actors refuse to accept their harsh reality. They take refuge in theatre and improvisation as a radical act of freedom that becomes their only form of resistance. They ask themselves: “When the revolution doesn’t come, shouldn’t it begin within our group?”
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Film
After the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, amid ongoing protests and stronger cultural control in Iran, a theatre collective boycotts official stages and chooses improvisation. They are stuck in a situation where they do not know whether they should perform at all, and if they do, how. For them, even underground theatre with a written script still feels like another form of constraint. So they make a collective decision: enough is enough. They decide to stop performing scripted plays altogether, refuse compulsory hijab, and reject the cycle of censorship. Improvisation is not only a theatre method for them. It becomes a new form of artistic freedom and a way to survive under constant pressure.
The film moves between two worlds. The outside world is shaped by laws, repression, a damaged economy, and everyday violence. The inside world is the refuge they build through rehearsals, and a shared “we” that grows against the outside. One Good Day is a hybrid documentary that moves constantly between observational reality and spontaneous performance. I follow the group’s journey and their everyday life together. But in the middle of real situations, improvisations suddenly begin, without warning to the audience. The film will not explain exactly when reality ends and performance begins. The audience will gradually lose certainty about what is spontaneous, what is being performed, and whether there is still a meaningful distinction between the two.
This uncertainty is central to the film: can theatre help them escape reality, or does it allow reality to return in another form? By performing their fears, losses, and unlived possibilities, can they discover different versions of themselves?
Motivation
People in Iran live under constant pressure, and for artists this pressure is even stronger. For ethical reasons, this collective refuses to work with state institutions, and they also cannot enter the official system. As a result, they often perform only for themselves, and no stable audience can form.
At the same time, their artistic level is high. They recently acted in a fiction film selected for Sundance, which received the Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. Yet because of political constraints, they had to appear under pseudonyms in the credits. With their consent and through the trust we have built over many years, I can document them as themselves and show the process behind their work. I want to stay close to their lived reality and the fragile spaces they build to keep going, without turning their lives into mere material for a story.
A filmmaker like Jafar Panahi can find ways for his films to be seen despite restrictions, but many young and unknown artists do not have the same access, protection, or resources. Returning to state stages is neither possible nor acceptable. So this group relies on real audiences outside official structures and tries to build an independent path.
This film is made with that goal. It aims to create a way for their performances to be seen, to bring an audience to an act that would otherwise remain hidden and limited, and to document their effort to become visible without compromise.
Director
Amirhossein Samimi
Director & Cinematographer
Amirhossein Samimi is an Iranian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker based in Zürich, Berlin, and Tehran.
He completed a Master’s degree in Cinematography at ZHdK. Since 2026, he has been studying for a Master’s degree in Documentary Directing at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.
His work explores stories that remain untold because of fear, social restrictions, or repression. His documentary One Good Day was selected for Migros Kulturprozent Story Lab Stage I in 2026. He is a member of the Iranian Short Film Association.