Softcore

San, a self-proclaimed beatnik and Yale art graduate, is back in his native Tehran. With the financial support of his best friend Stella, he’s reopening Aunt Zsa Zsa’s infamous cocktail bar, The Promessa.

Arrested while photographing a kitsch flower display in front of the Revolutionary Courthouse, San is forced to sign up as a secret agent. He straddles the worlds of art and espionage with panache in this frenetic tour of modern Tehran, where conspiracy theories flourish and fashion rubs shoulders with the shrinking world of politics.

Tirdad Zolghadr is a self-confessed airline brat and freelance critic/curator.