Canadian Premiere
Behind on her rent and facing eviction, forty-something Hanieh (Hanieh Tavassoli) has everything riding on a semi-autobiographical screenplay that she’s just sold to a friend (Pegah Ahangarani) who’s rushing it into production. However, rehearsals prove dispiriting at best. While she considers every scene sacrosanct, the cast declare the character modelled after Hanieh a “bastard.” Finding little sympathy amongst her colleagues (who include an ornery, scene-stealing rooster), Hanieh seeks counsel from her father’s ghost and kinship with the audience, as she occasionally breaks the fourth wall.
In depicting Hanieh’s dizzying, tragicomic descent into a living nightmare, Faeze Azizkhani infuses her film with anarchic energy, rapid-fire dialogue, palpable anxiety, and biting humour that recalls 90s-era indie-filmmaking-gone-awry fare like In the Soup and Living in Oblivion. That said, there are culturally specific stakes here as Azizkhani illustrates just how stacked the odds are against a female filmmaker striving for artistic expression and creative freedom.
Presented by
Hanieh Tavassoli, Pegah Ahangarani Farahani, Ali Mosaffa, Pedram Sharifi, Ramin Sadighi, Amaneh Agharezakashi
Iran/Germany
2022
In Farsi with English subtitles
Gender or Sexual Discrimination
Book Tickets
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Election
Tracy Flick (Reece Witherspoon) is running for Student President, but Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas... This remarkably sour millennial comedy from Alexander Payne (The Holdovers; Sideways; The Descendents) hits twice as hard today.
90s Surprise Film
The 90s movie we have all been missing... Join us for a celebratory wake for this year's 90s, Baby series! What you will be seeing is top secret (no, not Top Secret!, that was 1984) but it will be at least 26 years old and it will be new to this series.
The Wind Will Carry Us
Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...
Credits
Executive Producer
Daryosh Hekmat
Producer
Manijeh Hekmat, Mahshid Ahangarani Farahani
Screenwriter
Faeze Azizkhani
Cinematography
Alireza Barazandeh
Editor
Hamidreza Barzegar, Majid Barzegar
Production Design
Soheil Danesh Eshraghi
Original Music
Hesam-eddin Salehbeig
Director
Faeze Azizkhani
Born in 1982 in Tehran, Faeze Azizkhani completed her courses in Abbas Kiarostami’s workshops. In 1999, she started her career as a short film director, script supervisor, and assistant director. After directing some award-winning shorts and documentaries, Azizkhani wrote and directed her debut feature film, For a Rainy Day (2015), working with Kiarostami as her advisor. The film screened at the Fajr and Silk Road International Film Festivals. Her second film, The Locust, premiered at SXSW 2022.
Filmography: For a Rainy Day (2015)
