La notte di Yalda

The story is quite simple and comes from a few different Persian myths. On his quest for glory, Angra, the god of Death, kills in anger his wife Ishtar, goddess of Love,  accusing her to be an impediment to his grandeur. Chased by the ghost of his dead wife, Angra’s journey exposes his flaws, from greed to lust to jealousy.

In the end, he realizes he’s been after everything that’s unimportant: sitting on a rock he mourns his lost love in such a painful way that a well nearby hears him and, moved to pity, reveals itself as Ishtar. The two are reconciled only for Ishtar to die again in his arms, vanishing in water and leaving him forever alone.

Yalda’s night – the longest night of the year celebrated as a Persian festivity on the winter solstice – becomes eternal and time, the only valuable currency to human beings, turns into Angra’s prison.