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Supported through Rotterdam Film Festivals Hubert Bals Fund for innovative talent in developing countries, Secret Ballot is a sharply evocative political allegory. It's also something of a rarity for an Iranian film: a deadpan comedy. Director Babak Payami gives this quirky drama a formal, subdued tone, but fills his picture with the kind of pleasures that sneak up on you.

A huge wooden box is dropped from an airplane at an outpost where two soldiers appear to be guarding a deserted beach. The package contains election ballots, and not far behind is the pollster. This election representative is a woman: not used to taking orders from a lady, one soldier initially balks at her suggestion that he drive her around. He reluctantly takes her from town to town, where the days' events have an indelible effect on both of them.

The humour comes from Payami contrasting the personalities of the two characters. As they travel across the landscape, they both have their belief systems challenged. The pollster is a liberal idealist who believes that, given the opportunity to vote, people will automatically open themselves up to democratic principles. The soldier has the harsher, more cynical view. He thinks that being free means not allowing yourself to be swindled by anybody.

Babak Payami (born in Tehran, 1966) studied at the University of Toronto before returning to Iran for his debut feature One More Day (1999). The film was screened and awarded at numerous Film Festivals worldwide including Berlin and Tokyo. Secret Ballot repeated this success with the prize for Best Director at Venice Film Festival.