Kian Mojtabaie is a successful Iranian-American architect whose life is a masterpiece of control—until it isn't. At thirty-seven, he experiences a profound failure: the inability to feel desire, followed by a public collapse during the presentation of his life's work, a $40 million Persian-inspired cultural center. Numbness spreads like a slow leak he refuses to fix.
Enter Alieh, a enigmatic storyteller who claims to mend broken things not with therapy or pills, but with stories. Inviting Kian to her Arts District studio, she offers an unconventional protocol: listen, truly listen, to narratives that unlock what silence has sealed away. As their sessions unfold—filmed on celluloid by her partner Shirin—Kian confronts buried memories, cultural heritage, family expectations, and the raw ache of wanting again.
*The Alfiyya Protocol* is a luminous exploration of emotional numbness, desire's rebirth, and the healing power of narrative. In a world of polished surfaces and performative success, one man learns that true architecture rebuilds the soul.
