Canadian Premiere
In 1998, two schoolgirls sent a letter to Iran’s first-ever women’s newspaper. While they waited to be published, they considered making an impossible film. Using citations and image intervention, Razeh-del journeys through parallel histories of war on images of women. Tafakory’s previous film (Mast-del, MODES ’23) was named among the top ten short films of the year by Film Comment magazine.
Community Partner
Iran/UK/Italy
2024
In Farsi with English subtitles
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Leonardo Bigazzi
Screenwriter
Maryam Tafakory
Editor
Maryam Tafakory
Maryam Tafakory
Maryam Tafakory [b. Iran] works with film and performance. Screenings of her work include MoMA, Cannes, Locarno, amongst others. Awards include Best Experimental Short at 70th and 71st MIFF, Gold Hugo Award at 58th Chicago Int’l Festival, and Tiger Short Award at 51st IFFR.
Photo by The Flaherty, Abby Lord
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Hemela
Hemela is a tender documentary celebrating resilience and cultural memory in a diasporic community. Through food, laughter, and tradition, Pirouz Nemati crafts a luminous portrait of a woman whose everyday life radiates extraordinary warmth and joy.
Steal Away
Get Out meets Rosemary’s Baby in this surreal psychological thriller from award-winning director Clement Virgo (Brother, VIFF 2022), as a sheltered teenager (Angourie Rice) obsesses over the mysterious refugee her mother has taken in (Mallori Johnson).
5: The absurd & spiritual
Shorts from: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal.
Remaining Native
Teenager Ku Stevens runs toward his dreams while retracing the path of his great-grandfather’s escape from an "Indian boarding school". An impressive, urgent debut from Paige Bethmann about memory, endurance, and what it truly means to remain Native.
Cutting Through Rocks
Winner of Sundance's World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Cutting Through Rocks follows Sara Shahverdi — motorcyclist, midwife, and first-ever councilwoman elected in her Iranian village. A vérité triumph by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni.