Often seen as one of the key films of the Iranian New Wave, Aramesh Dar Hozour-e Digaran is a cinematic adaptation of a story by Marxist writer Gholam-Hossein Saedi that was banned upon release and left unseen (save for a single festival screening) until 1973. Telling the story of a retired army general who observes the unhappiness of his daughter's failing marriage and her eventual suicide attempt, the film delves into the anxieties of a country which is seemingly marching forward but retains a troubled, melancholic relationship with the past. The gender and social conflicts of Saedi's story are brilliantly translated into a bleak vision of Iranian society and the confusion of the middle classes.

Golbarg Rekabtalaei is a cultural historian of modern Iran, with a broader focus on the modern Middle East. In 2019, she authored Iranian Cosmopolitanism: A Cinematic History. Rekabtalaei is currently an assistant professor in the Department of History at Seton Hall University, where she also serves as the Co-Director of the Middle Eastern and North African Studies Program.