Filmmaker Jasmin Mozaffari ended the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sunday with her short film Motherland named the best Canadian film in the festival’s Short Cuts program. Motherland is a captivating story set around the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, when a man named Babak (Behtash Fazlali) goes to meet his fiancée’s parents and must face the harsh reality of what it means to be an Iranian immigrant. https://youtu.be/cYXPOjWDVmc?si=PwWvmctXUd_J1Jsl The idea for Motherland came from a personal place, based on the story of her parents. “My dad came from Iran in late ’78, ’79 to the U.S.,” Mozaffari explained to Yahoo Canada. “So it was…
Author: Narges Samadi
Narges Samadi
Narges Samadi, born in Iran, is a former emergency physician with over twenty years of experience in Tehran. Following her immigration to Canada, she transitioned into the field of cinema studies, culminating in her recent graduation from the Cinema Studies specialist program at the University of Toronto. Currently, she is the founder of “Narges Cinema House” in Toronto, which serves as a venue for film screenings, education in film history, and the production of critical writings.
A year after collecting his second Palme d‘Or for “Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Östlund bestowed the same honor to Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” a thought-provoking legal drama which purports to investigate the guilt or innocence of a popular novelist (Sandra Hüller), accused of murdering her husband. But the film is every bit as much an inquest into their marriage, bringing private details from the couple’s personal life into the courtroom for the press, public and audience to dissect, as if under a microscope. Triet is only the third woman to win the Palme d’Or (after Jane Campion for…
Now reaching its 28th edition, the Sarajevo Film Festival (running 12-19 August) has announced its competition sections, where 51 films will vie for the Heart of Sarajevo awards. The individual competition sections — for feature, documentary, fiction short, and student work — will be composed of 21 world, seven international, one European, 21 regional, and one national premieres. The feature competition will number eight titles, down from 10 the previous year, and be split evenly between world and regional premieres as well as having a majority of female filmmakers. A Ballad by Aida Begić, the festival’s most notable Bosnian world premiere, is featured in this…
The New York Kurdish Film and Cultural Festival, founded by NY-based educator and human rights activist Xeyal Qertel, is proud to announce its fifth edition. This year’s programming centers Kurdish women and their contributions to human rights discourse, feminism, literature, and egalitarian social organizing. The festival includes feature and short film screenings, live music performance, and book talks. New York’s landmark movie theater, Village East by Angelika will host us. The event will take place Friday September 10th from 6 PM – 10 PM and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 PM – 10 PM. NYKFCF is sponsored by Justice…