Kian Mojtabaie is a successful Iranian-American architect whose life is a masterpiece of control-until it isn't. At thirty-seven, he experiences a profound failure: the inability to feel desire, followed by a public collapse during the presentation of his life's work, a $40 million Persian-inspired cultural center. Numbness spreads like a slow leak he refuses to fix.
Enter Alieh, a enigmatic storyteller who claims to mend broken things not with therapy or pills, but with stories. Inviting Kian to her Arts District studio, she offers an unconventional protocol: listen, truly listen, to narratives that unlock what silence has sealed away. As their sessions unfold-filmed on celluloid by her partner Shirin-Kian confronts buried memories, cultural heritage, family expectations, and the raw ache of wanting again.
*The Alfiyya Protocol* is a luminous exploration of emotional numbness, desire's rebirth, and the healing power of narrative. In a world of polished surfaces and performative success, one man learns that true architecture rebuilds the soul.