Fleeing his native Iran on human rights grounds, champion wrestler Iman (Payman Maadi, A Separation) and his young family find themselves in snowy northern Sweden awaiting the agonizing process of asylum. Struggling to adapt to a new country and language while their refugee status is in limbo is hard enough; but when Iman starts to train with a Swedish wrestling team against his wife’s wishes, the real reason for their flight begins to emerge.

Iman is grappling with far more than the language — his deepening friendship with teammate Thomas (Björn Elgerd, We Could Be Parents, Frameline40) and the ghosts of his past in Iran will bring mounting pressures on the marriage and break open long-held secrets. Playing out with the intensity of a high-stakes wrestling match, and aided by Maadi’s fierce performance, Iranian-born writer/director Milad Alami’s accomplished drama is an unflinching, slow-burn look at the emotional toll of exile and the price to be paid both for living one’s truth and hiding from it.