American Wrestler: The Wizard

Seeking to escape the war and chaos which ensues in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, 17 year-old Ali Jahani (George Kosturos) is smuggled out of Iran and sent to live with his uncle in the small Northern Californian town of Petaluma. The year is 1980 and Ali’s personal struggles in this peaceful American suburb are now playing out under the shadow of a much broader geopolitical showdown which has ignited passions across the country - the Iranian hostage crisis, in which 52 US citizens are being held captive at gunpoint in their embassy in Tehran – with images of blindfolded American prisoners and burning American flags dominating the television news and the front pages of the newspapers each day.

As a result, Ali, himself a refugee, is faced with a different kind of adversity - racial discrimination and bullying. His uncle, Hafez (Ali Afshar), embittered from being ostracized by the small-town community, also doesn't want him there. He feels Ali has brought bad luck with him from Iran.

Rejected by everyone, but determined to fit in and to make a new life for himself, Ali decides that joining a school sports team will be his ticket to acceptance amongst his peers. After failed attempts at basketball and football, Ali, under the watchful eye of Principal Skinner (Jon Voight), impresses Coach Plyler (William Fichtner) and makes it onto the school’s floundering wrestling team. It is here where his story begins.