Project Detail

Marriage Test

A smartly dressed woman and man sit side by side in the waiting room, sharing a quiet smile.

Synopsis

Set in a mosque waiting room in 1980s South Wales, and inspired by the true story of writer-director Sara Nourizadeh's parents, a young couple whose relationship crossed boundaries of culture, faith and expectation.
At a time when Iranian politics dominated UK headlines and shaped public attitudes, a Welsh woman and her Iranian fiancé prepare for an Islamic conversion ceremony – a requirement they must fulfil if they are to marry. What follows is a quietly charged and emotionally intimate portrait of two people trying to navigate a moment that is both deeply personal and subtly political. As they wait for the ceremony to begin, small details – a trembling hand, a whispered joke, a fleeting moment of doubt – reveal the emotional stakes beneath the surface. Their conversation dances between humour and tension, affection and uncertainty, reflecting the push and pull of family pressures, cultural misunderstandings, and their own hopes for the future.
Authentic VHS archive footage of the real couple is interwoven within this scripted drama, grounding the film in lived experience and offering an unexpectedly tender glimpse into the decades that followed.

Details

Year: 2026
Type of project: Shorts
Running time: 11 min 58 sec
Format: ARRI Alexa Mini LF
Director: Sara Nourizadeh
Producer: Roxy Amini
Executive Producer: Alice Lusher, Matthew Barry, Ali Mashayekhi, Jessica Cobham-Dineen
Editor: Andy Sowerby
Screenwriter: Sara Nourizadeh
Director of Photography: Markus Ilschner
Production Designer: Rana Fadavi
Sound: Nick Sounidis
Composer: Marcin Mazurek
Principal cast: Arian Nik, Poppy Lee Friar