Holy Spider attended the 75th Cannes Film festival’s competition section.
In Holy Spider (Les Nuits de Mashhad), we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest - to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.
Production:
(Denmark-Germany-Sweden-France) A Profile Pictures, One Two Films production, in co-production with Nordisk Film Production, Wild Bunch Int'l, Film i Väst, Why Not Productions, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France Cinéma. (World sales: Wild Bunch, Paris.)
Producers: Sol Bondy, Jacob Jarek, Ali Abbasi
Co-producers: Eva Åkergren, Calle Marthin, Peter Possne, Fred Burle, Vincent Maraval, Pascal Caucheteux, Gregoire Sorlat, Olivier Père, Rémi Burah
Executive Producers: Ditte Milsted, Christoph Lange
Crew:
Director: Ali Abbasi.
Screenplay: Ali Abbasi, Afshin Kamran Bahrami
Camera: Nadim Carlsen
Editors: Hayedeh Safiyari and Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Music: Martin Dirkov.
Cast:
Mehdi Bajestani- Zar Amir Ebrahimi - Arash Ashtiani - Forouzan Jamshidnejad - Alice Rahimi - Sara Fazilat - Sina Parvaneh - Nima Akbarpour - Mesbah Taleb - Firouz Agheli