Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari has long explored the quiet tensions and bureaucratic pressures of everyday life in Iran, from his acclaimed shorts to festival recognized features like “Disappearance,” “Until Tomorrow,” and “ Terrestrial Verses .” In competition at the Doha Film Festival , he arrives with his latest work, “Divine Comedy,” which premiered earlier this year in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and pushes his familiar themes into more overtly comedic territory.

Starring director Bahman Ark as Bahram, the story centers on a mid-career filmmaker whose entire body of Turkish-Azeri-language work has never been screened in Iran. When his newest film is once again rejected by cultural authorities, he joins forces with his sharp-witted producer, Sadaf (Sadaf Asgari), to stage an underg

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