Dear Elnaz

Javad and Elnaz were just an ordinary couple with big plans. They’d been living for about two years in Canada, where they had settled to complete their PhDs at the University of Alberta. “We were happy, living a normal life,” says Javad, with a lump in his throat. But the intelligent, beautiful, and happy Elnaz that we see on smartphone videos was killed, along with 175 other victims on January 8, 2020, when the passenger plane she was on was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.

Javad’s grief is still raw. He gets comfort, support, and understanding from friends and other members of the Iranian student community in Canada, as well as from the film crew, whom he takes to places he often visited with Elnaz. Sometimes the tears flow. At other times he freely vents his rage at the Iranian government. In this fittingly rough-edged film, Javad unashamedly gives full reign to his feelings—he's not afraid to let everyone see what’s been done to him.