In Tehran, one director after another is being beheaded by a serial killer – with the word “pig” written on their foreheads. Hasan, himself a filmmaker who has been banned from working, is spared. He is deeply hurt: Why is the killer ignoring him? Is he not important enough? His muse Shiva turns to other directors, his wife Goli lives with him but accepts his affair, and his mother Jeyran is increasingly losing her mind. As Hasan tries to prove his innocence, reality and delusions become blurred.

Mani Haghighi's PIG (Khook, 2018) is a black comedy about vanity, censorship, and the absurdities of the Iranian film scene. The film was shown in competition at the 68th Berlinale and won the Amphore d'Or at the Festival du film grolandais, among other awards. Haghighi stages a surreal farce in which social media hype, state repression, and artistic narcissism collide. Hasan Majooni shines as a self-obsessed director in a heavy metal shirt who desperately seeks attention.

PIG is a biting satire on the pursuit of fame and the mechanisms of the entertainment industry – not only in Iran. A film that explores the boundaries between art and reality with grotesque humor and stylistic extravagance.