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BIUFF — Berlin International Underground Film Festival
Poster for THURSDAY; 5 AM

No. 44 · Short Film

THURSDAY; 5 AM

Directed by Seyed Behyad Najafi & Tahereh Forghani

Iran · 19 min

Thursday, 5 AM After a debate over human nature, two friends test modern morality: can a stranger be paid to bury a suicide victim? As they pull three passengers into their disturbing wager, what began as a dark social experiment spins into a chilling reality.

Every film — Festival Pass

Streams 21 September 2026 to 28 September 2026, Berlin time. Every ticket is one Audience Award vote.

Trailer

About the film

Thursday, 5 AM Driven by a tense debate about human empathy, two friends set out to prove a point about modern society. One claims people have become so callous that anyone would agree to bury a suicide victim for the right price; the other refuses to believe humanity is lost. To settle the score, they drive through the city, offering money to three different strangers in exchange for completing the act. But as each passenger steps into the car—a haggling pragmatist, a struggling commuter, and a strangely willing youth—the line between a harmless wager and a deadly plan begins to blur. What starts as a quiet urban experiment slowly unravels into a disturbing puzzle of guilt, morality, and hidden motives, leaving them to face a reality far more chilling than the bet itself.

Content notes: Suicide

Runtime
19 min
Category
Short Film
Country
Iran
Year
2026
Language
Persian (Farsi)
Aspect ratio
2.39:1

Stills

Still 1 from THURSDAY; 5 AMStill 2 from THURSDAY; 5 AMStill 3 from THURSDAY; 5 AMStill 4 from THURSDAY; 5 AMStill 5 from THURSDAY; 5 AM
Seyed Behyad Najafi & Tahereh Forghani

Seyed Behyad Najafi & Tahereh Forghani

Tahereh Forghani and Seyed Behyad Najafi, Iranian filmmakers based in Tehran, spent years working as theatre directors before turning to cinema. Both trained in theatre at university, building a body of stage work that shaped their distinct sensibility as filmmakers. Thursday, 5 AM marks their debut as film directors, a project born from years of creative collaboration in theatre and translated into a new visual language. The film reflects how a theatrical eye can be reimagined through the frame of cinema, opening a new chapter for both artists as they step confidently into feature filmmaking.

Credits

Directed by
Seyed Behyad Najafi & Tahereh Forghani
Written by
Seyed Behyad Najafi & Tahereh Forghani
Produced by
Seyed Bakhtiar Najafi
Production company
Ma'agraph Art Group
Cinematography
Erfan Ghobadi
Editing
Armin Forghani
Principal cast
Seyed Mohammad Safavi, Kianoush SoltaniMatin, Armin Forghani, Fatemeh Amouzegar, Hami Ghanbarzadeh

THURSDAY; 5 AM is part of the Official Selection of the BIUFF Founding Edition 2026.