Finding Farideh, a feature documentary by Azadeh Moussavi and Kourosh Ataee, is Iran’s entry for Best International Feature Film Oscar 2020.
Finding Farideh” is about an Iranian girl named Farideh, who had been abandoned in a holy shrine in Iran when she was 6 months old in 1976, and then she got adopted by a Dutch couple and left Iran to the Netherlands to start her new life. Her parents promised to take her to Iran when she turns 18, but it never happened because they always thought that Iran is a dangerous country to go. Now, she overcomes her fears and starts a personal journey to her motherland Iran for the first time to meet three families who claim to be her biological family and to find out about her Iranian identity and culture.
We had an on camera interview with directors of Finding Farideh about making of the film:
Azadeh Moussavi and Kourosh Ataee believe that many people in the world are suffering from an identity crisis and those who are left by their families in their childhood are most likely to have one later in life. These children are deprived from the rights of a child to live like others and experience living with their birth families. This often happens because of poverty, addiction, prostitution or unwillingness. The main question for most of these children is: “Why am I abandoned? Farideh is one of them who has touched this crisis for years due to her adoption and in addition to this, she did not return to her homeland for almost forty years. Now she has decided to visit Iran for the first time and search for her Iranian identity through a personal journey. This was what made us eager to make this film. A story that can connects west to east through a soul-stirring journey and captures contrasts and differences between cultures, beliefs and behaviors. On the other hand, it also shows that the characters in the film can make strong, emotional connections with each other despite of all these differences.
Azadeh Moussavi:
In 1980, Azadeh was born in Tehran. She got her B.A. in Directing from Cinema & Theatre Faculty of Tehran University of Arts. Then Azadeh started working as the Assistant Director and Script Adviser in a couple of short and feature fictions and documentary films and she have directed two short fictions and one short documentary film so far. Her last film in collaboration with Kourosh Ataee, was a mid-length documentary titled “From Iran,A Separation” which participated in different festivals around the world and received some awards. “Finding Farideh” is her first feature documentary film.
Kourosh Ataee
Born in 1990 in Bojnurd, Iran, he started his career as a filmmaker when attending the filmmaking courses of Iran’s Young Cinema Society in 2007. He also got a B.A in film directing and a M.A in dramatic literature from the Cinema & Theatre Faculty of Tehran University of Arts. After some experiences in making short films and working as an assistant director in a couple of short and long features and TV series, he continued his career with a focus on documentary films and he has directed a mid-length documentary titled “From Iran,A Separation” in 2013, and a feature documentary titled “Finding Farideh” in 2018, which both were acclaimed in different festivals around the world and received some awards. Also, he is member of association of Iranian documentary producers.
Crew:
Directors: Azadeh Moussavi & Kourosh Ataee
Director of Photography: Mohamad Hadadi
Editor: Hamid Najafirad
Sound Recordist: Hassan Shabankareh
Sound Design& Mix: Ensieh Maleki
Narrator: Eline Farideh Koning
Music: Afshin Azizi
Colorist: Billy Wychgel
Directors Consultant: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
Production Manager: Shahin Daneshfar
Assistant Director: Sadaf Sadeghianpour
Producers: Azadeh Moussavi & Kourosh Ataee