Hijamat, the new drama produced and edited by Palme d’Or winner Jafar Panahi, premiered in the Crystal Globe Competition at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it received a largely mixed response from critics. In this Hijamat review roundup, reviewers praise the film’s performances and its sensitive handling of a difficult subject, but several feel it loses momentum as it progresses. The Hollywood Reporter describes it as earnest but underwhelming, while other outlets, including In Review Online and Cineuropa, find more to admire in its craftsmanship and compassion, even while noting its heavy, occasionally repetitive tone.
Hijamat is set within a Turkish immigrant family in Berlin. Murad, a respected restaurant owner in his fifties, has built a stable, devout life alongside his wife Leyla and their young son. That stability is shaken when photos suggesting his younger brother Kerem is gay begin circulating within their tight-knit Muslim community. As their father Ibrahim and a local imam push for Kerem to be “cured” of what they see as sin, Murad is torn between defending his brother and upholding the beliefs he has lived by his whole life—a conflict that eventually forces him to confront long-buried truths about himself.
Reviewers are divided on how well Saeivar sustains his story. Screen Daily notes that the film opens with a vivid, absorbing look into Berlin’s Turkish community but loses some of its early momentum in a second half it describes as repetitive and disjointed. The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin similarly finds the film overlong and occasionally clunky, though she credits Saeivar with a genuinely striking opening sequence. In Review Online takes a more favourable view, calling the film tense and intelligently observed, and praising its non-judgemental approach to a community where opposing beliefs are held with equal sincerity.
Critics across the review landscape broadly agree that the film’s two leads carry much of its emotional weight. The Hollywood Reporter and Cineuropa both single out Kida Khodr Ramadan’s performance as Murad for its nuance and restraint, with Cineuropa calling it committed and deeply felt. The International Cinephile Society highlights the pairing of Ramadan and Jael Cem Ilhan, who plays Kerem, noting how the two actors use small gestures and expressions to communicate what the dialogue sometimes cannot. In Review Online adds that even minor characters feel richly drawn, though it observes that some are ultimately left underused.
Hijamat is Saeivar’s fourth feature as director, following The Witness, which won the Audience Award in Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2024, No End, which premiered in Busan in 2022, and his 2020 debut The Alien, which premiered in Berlin. He is also widely known as Panahi’s longtime co-writer, having shared a Best Screenplay prize at Cannes for 3 Faces and earned an Oscar nomination alongside Panahi for It Was Just an Accident. Lead actor Kida Khodr Ramadan is a familiar face in Germany, best known for the series 4 Blocks, and Saeivar has said he specifically wanted an actor already trusted within Berlin’s Turkish and Arab community to anchor the film.
When it comes to the film’s technical craftsmanship, critical responses are largely positive. Cineuropa writes that little can be faulted in the film’s craft, praising Emre Erkmen’s classical cinematography, Panahi’s editing and Hossein Mirzagholi’s score for keeping the dialogue-heavy drama engaging throughout. Several reviewers also single out the film’s opening sequence—a fluid, unbroken shot following a young boy through a family celebration—as one of its strongest passages, even as they feel the rest of the film doesn’t always match its energy.
The film’s title refers to “Hijamat”, a traditional cupping therapy meant to draw out impurities from the body, which becomes a metaphor for the emotional and spiritual reckoning at the story’s centre. Saeivar has said he wanted to explore how people cling to the beliefs that confine them, and how confronting those beliefs, however painful, is necessary for real change. Critics also note that the film is less interested in scandal than in the quieter, more personal cost of denying one’s true self, both for Kerem and, eventually, for Murad himself.
The clearest point of disagreement among critics is how well the film balances its many narrative threads. Beyond the central conflict between Murad and his father, the story also follows a troubled elderly neighbour played by Nastassja Kinski and later hints at Murad’s own suppressed feelings—a subplot The Hollywood Reporter described as awkwardly inserted. In Review Online makes a similar observation, suggesting the film’s narrative density and constant emotional intensity eventually become overwhelming, even while calling it an intelligent and compassionate piece of work overall.
Part of the film’s reception has been shaped by circumstances beyond the screen. Jafar Panahi, who produced and edited Hijamat, was unable to attend its Karlovy Vary premiere after returning to Iran following his Oscar campaign for It Was Just an Accident, where his passport was reportedly confiscated and he now faces the possibility of another prison term. Saeivar walked the red carpet alone, a detail several outlets noted felt closely tied to the film’s own story of exile, silence and rupture within families and communities.
Critics may not be fully aligned on whether Hijamat fully succeeds as a piece of storytelling, but there is broad agreement that it tackles its subject with sincerity and care. Between its committed lead performances, confident craftsmanship and Panahi’s continued presence behind the scenes despite his circumstances in Iran, Hijamat remains one of the most talked-about titles to emerge from this year’s Karlovy Vary lineup, even as reviewers continue to debate whether the film’s storytelling fully lives up to its ambitions. ArtHood Films is handling international sales on the film, while Neue Visionen will release it in Germany. Overall, this Hijamat review roundup reflects a film that divides opinion while earning respect for its performances, craftsmanship and thoughtful exploration of faith, family and identity.
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Film Details : Hijamat
Director: Nader Saeivar
Writer: Nader Saeivar
Cast: Kida Khodr Ramadan, Jael Cem Ilhan, Nicolette Krebitz, Moritz Bleibtreu, Nastassja Kinski, Vedat Erincin, Aziz Çapkurt, Derya Durmaz
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 103 minutes
Language: German
Countries: Germany, Turkey
Cinematography: Emre Erkmen
Editor: Jafar Panahi
Music: Hossein Mirzagholi
World Premiere: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2026 (Crystal Globe Competition)
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