Afrooz is a dedicated and inspirational captain to her teammates in the Iranian women’s futsal (a variant of soccer) team. They’ve just made finals and are ready to take on the competition in Malaysia when there seems to be a problem with her clearance to board the plane. It appears Afrooz’s husband, Yasser, hasn’t signed the document permitting her to leave the country. Determined to make the match, Afrooz sets off on a agonizing attempt to convince her husband to sign her permit. Separated for a year, however, Yasser — a charismatic but cruel TV show host — is bent on getting revenge on Afrooz for their failed marriage. Based on real cases of women athletes being denied clearance to travel by husbands, Cold Sweat, Soheil Beiraghi’s second feature, is a timely and gripping account of the strict patriarchal laws that still exist in parts of our world and the fierce determination of the women attempting to fight against them.