“If I return to Iran, I might be arrested on the airport,” Ebrahimi mentioned throughout an interview on the Mira Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi performs the lead position in Sheyda (2023).
Ebrahimi visited Hong Kong this month as a part of the forty eighth Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), which additionally screened “Sheyda,” by which Ebrahimi stars.
Shayda is the story of an Iranian lady residing in Australia who flees her controlling husband and takes refuge along with her daughter in a girls’s shelter.
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The movie is the debut function of Iranian-Australian director Noura Niasari, and the story relies on the experiences of Niasari’s mom.
The pageant additionally screened Tatami, the story of a younger Iranian judo star caught up in a global political incident. Ebrahimi co-directed and starred within the movie with Israeli Guy Natif.
Both movies observe within the footsteps of the extreme crime thriller The Holy Spider, for which Ebrahimi gained Best Actress on the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
The movie, directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, stars Ebrahimi as a journalist who goes undercover as a prostitute to analyze a serial killer. The story relies on the true story of the murders of 16 feminine intercourse staff in Iran’s holy metropolis of Mashhad between 2000 and 2001.
Winning this position was a coincidence. Ebrahimi was initially the casting director for the movie, however she was not concerned till the lead actor withdrew from the position on account of considerations that appearing with out a hijab (scarf) would get her into hassle with Iran’s “morality” police. He was the casting director for the film.
Ebrahimi mentioned these concerned in “The Holy Spider,” which was filmed in Jordan, paid an enormous worth.
“They cannot work in Iran anymore. They took an enormous threat, and I feel they’re proud.”
Ebrahimi in a nonetheless from Holy Spider (2022).
Ebrahimi based the manufacturing firm Alembic Productions in 2022 and her profession is clearly on the up and up.
“For a few years I did not seem in entrance of the digicam as a result of I did not know anybody in France and I wanted time to study the language, adapt to the brand new tradition, new nation… every part.” she says.
What her movies have in widespread is what occurs to those that disobey Iran’s strict legal guidelines. Support for Iranian girls’s rights can be deeply rooted.
They don’t desire us to inform the reality or present actuality…We have turn out to be a nightmare for them Zar Amir Ebrahimi talks in regards to the Iranian regime
This is why cinema is such an essential platform, says Ebrahimi. Films present a window into completely different cultures and permit folks to inform essential tales.
“It’s nice that folks can relate to those tales.”
Ebrahimi in a nonetheless from Tatami, which she additionally co-directed.
While in France, Ebrahimi interacted with different Iranian exiles, who she says are additionally bravely telling the reality in regards to the Iranian regime.
“We’re all doing political issues and telling tales that we do not need the entire world to listen to. They don’t desire us to inform the reality or present us the fact.” she says.
“At some level, we could not neglect your voice, and we turned big – and we turned their nightmare.”