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Hot-button Iranian doc “An Eye for an Eye,” that in 2025 scored a Special Jury mention at the Tribeca Festival, has been acquired by New York-based AI-driven documentary distributor Jolt dedicated to indie titles.
Co-directed
by Iranian-born American documentary filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian and Iran-based Farzad Jafari, “An Eye for an Eye” follows a real-life Tehran-set courtroom thriller centered around a woman named Tahereh who killed her drug-addicted abusive husband in self-defense. Under Iranian law, she could not get a divorce despite being systematically inflicted life-threatening injuries by him.
After her release from a 14-year prison sentence for the murder, Tahereh faces execution in Tehran unless she can pay the so-called “blood money” demanded by her husband’s family. “Blood money” is the traditional Islamic legal practice where the victim’s family agrees to pardon a convicted killer in exchange for a cash payment.
“As the clock ticks down, Tahereh’s son Mohsen is thrust into a desperate effort to save his mother’s life, navigating a legal and moral labyrinth shaped by grief, patriarchal values, religious law, and the silence surrounding domestic violence,” according to the doc’s promotional materials
“In a system where a human life can become a matter of negotiation, the victim’s family holds the power to decide her fate — execution or forgiveness, for a price,” the materials note.
Jolt – which was launched in 2024 by former Sundance chief digital officer Tara Hein-Phillips, Accel founder and Sundance board member Jim Swartz and producer Geralyn Dreyfous – is planning to open “An Eye for an Eye” theatrically in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 before expanding the doc’s release to other theatrical markets in such a way that it can qualify for the Academy Awards for Documentary, before moving “strategically from theatrical into digital distribution,” according to a statement from the distributor.
Jolt’s promotional effort will also include a community-driven engagement campaign “designed to create a meaningful presence for the film among audiences, organizations, and advocates connected to its themes,” the statement noted.
“Launching ‘An Eye for an Eye’ this summer on the Jolt streaming platform feels more urgent than ever,” said Christoph Jorg, head producer for Unchained Productions, which shepherded the doc.
Commented Tara Hein-Phillips: “Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari have made a film that is both urgent and cinematic; one that speaks to justice, gender, power and survival with extraordinary intimacy.”
“We are proud to bring the film to North American audiences through a release strategy that gives it an awards presence, a thoughtful theatrical path, and a data-driven route to the audiences who will be most moved by it,” she added.
Recent Jolt releases include Oscar-nominated doc”Viva Verdi!,” sports doc “Girl Climber,” “Hollywoodgate,” “Zurawski v Texas,” and “The Bibi Files,” from Oscar-winners Alex Gibney and Alexis Bloom that investigates corruption in Israeli politics.
“An Eye for an Eye” had its world premiere in the documentary competition at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it scored a Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature prize and also won Best Editing in a Documentary Feature for its editors, Soren B. Ebbe and Hayedeh Safiyari. The doc has subsequently also screened at top documentary festivals, including Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX and Fipadoc in France where it won Best Documentary in the Social Impact Competition strand.
Global digital rights and all rights outside of North America to “An Eye for an Eye” are being handled by London-based Journeyman Pictures.
