‘Pari,’ a story of rebirth ‘like the poems of the Persian sufis’

Greece's presence at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival which began last week will be marked this year by "Pari," an ambitious endeavor written and directed by the Iranian-born Siamak Etemadi that explores the themes of love and longing, of separation and seeking.

Set in Athens and the anarchist haunt of Exarchia, the film, which is among the critics' top picks in the festival's Panorama section, tells the tale of Pari, an Iranian mother, housewife and a Muslim, and her desperate search for her son, who has gone missing while studying abroad.

She makes her way to Athens, where she is "a stranger in a strange land," with a different language, customs and clothing, and where, in the process, she gradually sheds her own identity.

"There is more to her underneath this persona. Her longing to see her child becomes the driving force taking her further and...