Lovers Sleep Alone

Iman has built his life in Berlin around absence. From his family, from Iran, from being known. He drifts through the city, chasing closeness and solitude. Day in, night out, he works as a caregiver for an old man and at a truck wash. He fills the silence with invented stories and a man he meets for sex at night in a park. On his endless paths through the city, fragments from the lives of other passersby drift alongside him. When his cousin Maneli visits from Tehran, what he left behind quietly returns.

Directed by Massih Parsaei, Lovers Sleep Alone leans on a strong ensemble — Pooyesh Frozandeh, Ava Darvishi, Marcel Kohler — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 0.