SBIFF ’26: Sunshine Express

Most Iranians are used to role-playing, because they must go out everyday pretending they don’t hate their oppressive government. However, every few months, thousands finally express their true feelings, at which point the regime rounds up and executes the dissenters. Consequently, all these “game” players are experienced role-players, but in this case, they are doing it for money in director-screenwriter Amirali Navaee’s Sunshine Express, which screens at the 2026 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Players must refer the game as the “trip.” To win, they must be the last on the train, successfully reaching Hermania, which is described like a Persian Erehwon. Obviously, that means they need to get their competitors off the train before the last “stop.” It is just a detailed set, with rear-projection windows, which will never leave the sound stage—so wouldn’t it be a shock if they found themselves hurtling down the tracks, somewhere out in parts unknown?

Indeed, the game takes an ominously method turn. That puts the “Train Guard” in an awkward position, since he is supposed to be the other players’ primary link to the organizers, while still competing against them. “The Judge” is supposed to be the main in-game authority figure, but his performance will be compromised by his reaction to prescription drugs. “The Prisoner” might appear to be at the greatest disadvantage, given the handcuffs, but the “Agent” escorting him is a neurotic bundle of nerves.

For roughly the first half of the film, the players play the game. During the second, the game plays the players, or something like that. It definitely looks like you must take a detour through the Twilight Zone to reach Hermania. Regardless, players struggle to keep in character, because that remains their dominant strategy.

As a result, Sunshine Express could be a fitting addition to the lesson plans for game-theory classes. It also perhaps serves as a slyly oblique allegory, in which the role-players try to ignore or “play through” chaos erupting outside the train.

Regardless, the ensemble cast does incredible work portraying characters who by definition operate on two levels. For instance, Sam Nakhai projects confidence under the Prisoner’s surface brooding, while Sajad Hamidian conveys his deep insecurities through the Agent’s over-compensating play-acting.

This is a very provocative film that could pass itself off as the brainier, more meta cousin of Fincher’s Fight Club and The Game. There are persistent questions regarding the “realness” of the film’s reality, which leads to dangerously high stakes. Enthusiastically recommended, Sunshine Express screens today, tomorrow, and Tuesday (2/8, 2/9, and 2/10) as part of this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival.