The film was selected as the Afghan entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, although it was not nominated. Golshifteh Farahani was nominated for the Most Promising Actress award at the 39th César Awards. The film is set in Afghanistan and filmed in-country and in areas of Morocco that resembled Soviet-era housing in Kabul. It was produced with participation from the French Ministry of Culture (Ministère de la Culture), Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, and multiple independent film production companies. The U.S. release was distributed by Sony Picture Classics.