Iranian cinema? Need we say more? Always classy, always interesting. Iranian culture is a complex mix of modernity and superstition (or religious control) and this proves fertile ground for its many talented directors. Wednesday, May 9 is an honourable addition to this canon.

At the centre of the multi-strand story is the desire to gain redemption. Middle aged journalist, Jalal, wants to help others. He has suffered a great loss. What stays with him from that experience is that, if others had helped at the time, tragedy would have been averted. When he comes into a little money, he decides to place an ad in the local paper offering 30 million Rials to anyone who has good need of it. Leading up to, and overlapping with, this narrative, we have other strands that will eventually entangle. Leila – a single mother with a sick child – represents one strand. In another, we meet Setareh, a young woman who tries to make a love match with a slightly unsuitable guy, bringing down the wrath of two families upon her. Eventually, on the day announced by the ad (and also the title of the film), huge crowds turn up at Jalal’s office, presenting him with a heartrending set of decisions.

First time director, and co-writer, Vahid Jalilvand, shows early maturity in the handling of the strong cast, and in the emotional palette of the film. It is confidently directed, with many long, well written scenes in which the balance shifts again and again, involving us in the dilemmas from all sides. Everyone has a case to plead and, in many instances, a case to answer too. No one is innocent or guilty; it is always circumstance and human failing that ensnares us. In the true Iranian cinematic tradition, there is a strong humanist grounding to this. It enlists our sympathies in their ordinary struggles to withstand poverty or to fall in love freely without the controls of family or state and religious zealotry. As noted, Iran seems to have its many clashing world views within its borders. It is a fertile ground for artists.

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