The Flight Le vol

A documentary by Soran Mardookhi

The Flight Le vol

On January 8, 2020, Flight PS752 was shot down minutes after takeoff from Tehran. All 176 people aboard were killed. The Flight follows the families left behind as they turn grief into a pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability.

Find a screening
World premiere · VIFF · Oct 8 & 11

01 · The story

They were coming home.

University students returning for the winter term. Newlywed couples. Young children asleep on their parents’ shoulders.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 left Tehran in the early morning, bound for Kyiv. Minutes after takeoff, it was struck by two surface-to-air missiles. No one survived.

Iranian authorities attributed the downing to human error — an explanation the victims’ families have never accepted.

The Flight follows the people left behind. Parents, spouses, siblings, and grandparents with no background in activism, politics, or international law built a national organization, navigated years of legal proceedings, and carried their case to international courts and institutions.

Home videos filled with music, dancing, and laughter hold on to life before the loss. Alongside the search for justice, the film watches quietly as love and memory are carried forward — a memorial 5K run, a new dog, a work of art.

Families gathered at dusk around their loved ones’ graves in the snow in Toronto.
Shahla Ghasri holds a photograph of her son and his wife before a wall of portraits and strings of lights.
Families of PS752 victims gathered indoors in Toronto, applauding as a man records on his phone.
Arash Morattab reads a statement outside the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montréal, beneath a banner reading Canada Mourns — we demand truth, we demand justice.

02 · From the film

Two moments.

Short excerpts released ahead of the premiere. Each one plays here — nothing loads from the video host until you press play.

Excerpt 1 Armin Morattab shows Arvin and Aida’s seats aboard Flight PS752.
Excerpt 2 Alborz Sadeghi shares one of his niece’s final photographs.

03 · In memory

The 176+1

Students beginning a new term. Physicians, engineers, researchers. New parents, grandparents, entire families travelling together. Each light stands for one person aboard Flight PS752.

A collage of portraits of the people killed aboard Flight PS752, titled Flight PS752 Innocent Victims.

A collage of everyone lost aboard Flight PS752. One hundred seventy-six plus one points of light — one for each life, including the unborn child.

Their names belong to the people who loved them. Here we hold their light — their stories are told in the film, and by the Association of Families of Flight PS752.

04 · Director’s statement

Portrait of director Soran Mardookhi, arms crossed, in black and white.
Soran Mardookhi — writer and director

“It is a film I wish I had never had to make.”

I grew up in a Kurdistan where war, bombardment, and political repression were part of its collective memory. From an early age, I saw how political power could enter the most private spaces of people’s lives.

Before Flight PS752 was shot down, I spoke with my brother in Sna. He told me our family friends, Arvin and Aida, were there too, about to leave for Tehran to catch their flight back to Canada. After it was shot down, my brother called again to tell me they had been on board.

When many lives are taken at once, people can quickly become numbers. With PS752, that number is 176. It conveys the scale but can also obscure the individuals behind it. Each had a life, a family, friendships, humour, ambitions, and a future they had imagined for themselves. I wanted The Flight to resist that reduction.

I watched individual grief become collective action. Rejecting the official explanation of “human error,” the families gathered evidence, worked with independent experts, organized demonstrations around the world, and met the official account with facts. In the film, Arash, Arvin’s brother, says, “Justice is a journey.” The longer I spent with the families, the more I understood what he meant.

— Soran Mardookhi, writer & director

05 · Screenings

Gather to watch.

Screenings begin with the world premiere in Vancouver. Details for each date are below, and more will be added as they are confirmed.

OCT08 World premiere

Vancouver

VIFF 2026 · 8:15 PM · SFU Woodwards

Hearing assistance · English subtitles

Book tickets
OCT11 Festival

Vancouver

VIFF 2026 · 3:45 PM · Fifth Avenue Cinema · 19+

Hearing assistance · English subtitles

Book tickets

07 · News & press

News

October 5, 2026 · The Hollywood Reporter

The Hollywood Reporter interviews Soran Mardookhi

Etan Vlessing’s interview, published ahead of the Vancouver premiere, on the families who tell their own story and the home videos of the lives that were lost.

Read the article

September 28, 2026 · Stir

Stir on three families, and a black screen

Ashley Kim’s piece for Stir, on the three families the film follows and on its opening: a black screen for the three days before the cause of the crash was admitted.

Read the interview

September 25, 2026 · Hamyaari

Hamyaari publishes a conversation with the director

Issue 273 of Hamyaari, a Persian-language magazine in Vancouver, includes an interview with Soran Mardookhi ahead of the film’s first international screening.

See the issue

October 2026 · VIFF

World premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival

An Official Selection in the festival’s Showcase programme, with two public screenings. Tickets and festival details are available from VIFF.

Festival page

Ahead of the premiere

Two excerpts released from the film

Armin Morattab aboard a mock-up of the aircraft, and Alborz Sadeghi with his niece’s last photographs — both play on this page.

Watch the excerpts

08 · Community

Watch. Remember. Share.

The story of PS752 stays alive when people tell it. Follow the film, share it with your city, and stand with the families.

Families of PS752 victims hold portraits on the steps of a civic building beneath a banner reading Stand in solidarity with people in Iran.

Stand with the families

Association of Families of Flight PS752

The Association leads the pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability for the victims of PS752. Learn about their work and how to support it.

Credits

The people behind the film

Featuring — in order of appearance

  • Hamed Esmaeilion
  • Armin Morattab
  • Huriran Sohrab
  • Alborz Sadeghi
  • Amirali Alavi
  • Shahnaz Morattab
  • Maral Gorginpour
  • Navaz Ebrahim
  • Kourosh Doustshenas
  • Yasin Shafaghi
  • Mohsen Ahmadipour
  • Gissou Nia
  • Haydee Dijkstal
  • Shahla Ghasri
  • Hassan Morattab
  • Arash Morattab
  • Vahid Emami
  • Manzar Zarabi
  • Abas Sadeghi
  • Jamshid Rahmanifar
  • Amir Borghei
  • Sima Ghaffarzadeh
  • Beheshteh Rezapour
  • Nima Neyestani
  • Azadeh Heydaripour
  • Azamat Azhdari
Full credits

Direction

Written and directed by
Soran Mardookhi

Production

Producers
Shirley Vercruysse · Teri Snelgrove
Executive producers
Shirley Vercruysse · Tina Ouellette
Line producer
Jennifer Roworth
Production manager
Eloane Venkatapen
Location manager
Toby Karass-Rohan
Senior production coordinator
Lee Clapp
Technical coordinators
Lyne Lapointe · Wes Machnikowski
Production assistants
Henna Mann · Jan Dalton · Q’mal Labad-Workman · Toby Karass-Rohan
Production administrators
Nathan Conchie · Carla Jones

Camera & sound

Director of photography
Dany Lavoie
Camera operators
Darcy Muenchrath · Michael Grippo
Sound recordists
Adam White · Dave Pullmer · Gaëlle Komár
Data management technician
Q’mal Labad-Workman

Editing & picture

Editor
Abbas Mojarad
Assistant editor
Nicholas Ogden
Editing support and conform
Patrick Trahan · Marcus Matyas · Pierre Dupont · Albert Kurian
Colourist
Serge Verreault
Motion design
Mélanie Bouchard
Additional graphics
Cynthia Ouellet
Translator
Ava Homa
Proofreader
Maral Gorginpour
Consultant
Farzan Sojoodi

Post-production sound

Sound services
Maverick Post Group Inc.
Supervising sound editor & sound designer
Miguel Nunes
Sound editors
D’wayne Murray · May Guimarães · Jake Kerr
Supervising re-recording mixer
Miguel Nunes
Re-recording mixer
Richard Maddock
Mix technician
Jeff Grout

Music

“Dance of Love (Raghse Eshgh)”
Composed by Sadaf Amini
“Together (Ba Ham)”
Composed by Sadaf Amini
“Gentleman”
Performed by Sasy · courtesy of Radio Javan
“Bia Bia Benshin”
Originally performed by Marzieh · written by Majid Vafadar · lyrics by Moeini Kermanshahi · courtesy of Caltex Records
“Khabhaye Talaee (Golden Dreams)”
Originally performed and written by Javad Maroufi · courtesy of Caltex Records
Improvised music
Serbest · Showan Tavakol
Music researcher
Peter Martinelli-Bunzl

Archival

Archival material
The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims · Associated Press · Majid Mahichi · Soran Mardookhi · Armin Morattab · Shahnaz Morattab · Alborz Sadeghi · Huriran Sohrab
Stock media
PlaneStock / Pond5 · ivz / Envato
Archival researchers
Abbas Mojarad · Kimberley Brown

Marketing & publicity

Senior marketing advisor
Jamie Hammond
Marketing project manager
Melissa Haughton
Marketing coordinator
Jolène Lessard
Publicist
Katja De Bock

Special thanks

The families of victims of Flight PS752 · The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims and its Board of Directors · Babak Payami · Zhina Jamal Kurdistani · Farhad Zoleikhapour · Caroline Coutts · Laura Mitchell · Fernando Arsuffi · Selwyn Jacob · Colin Browne · Peyman Mardokhi · Rzgar Hama Rashid · Saeid Dehghani · Pouya Alagheband · Janet Kwan · Hossein Pourghaderi · Maryam Zarei

City of Richmond Hill · City of Toronto · City of Vancouver · École de technologie supérieure · Elgin Mills Cemetery – Mount Pleasant Group · Richmond Hill Public Library, Oak Ridges Branch · TransLink – South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority · Ville de Montréal · NSun Collective

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Stills and excerpts courtesy of the production.