“In the Land of Brothers” highlights the remarkable debut for co-directors Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi, who walked away with the Directing Award for their entry in the World Cinema – Dramatic Competition. The film marks a milestone for many on the team. This is the first co-directed feature for Amirfazli and Ghasemi; the first feature for acting co-lead, Mohammad Hosseini; and finally, the first time on-camera for co-lead Hamideh Jafari. Despite the many firsts, the feature is remarkably well-crafted, as Amirfazli and Ghasemi exhibit their natural inclination as storytellers.
In the Land of Brothers screened at Sundance
The co-directors have a track record of writing and directing shorts, and this shows in the tripartite structure of “In the Land of Brothers.” The quiet narrative loosely ties together three different stories demarcated by ten-year intervals. The film starts in 2001, when Afghan trade school student Mohamed (Mohammad Hosseini) is racially profiled by the Iranian police.
In the Land of Brothers screened at Sundance
The co-directors have a track record of writing and directing shorts, and this shows in the tripartite structure of “In the Land of Brothers.” The quiet narrative loosely ties together three different stories demarcated by ten-year intervals. The film starts in 2001, when Afghan trade school student Mohamed (Mohammad Hosseini) is racially profiled by the Iranian police.
- 2/13/2024
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
“As an Iranian-American actor, we don’t get a lot of scripts centering on the Iranian-American experience,” explains Niousha Noor about what immediately appealed to her about the screenplay of “The Persian Version.” The performer says the film – written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz — shines “a good light on Iranians, just as we know our families, our mothers, and all the sacrifices they made… I just loved the fact that it was a family drama, or dramedy, and didn’t have to do with the the typical things we’re used to when we hear ‘Iran’.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Noor plays Shireen in the film, the mother of the protagonist Leila (Layla Mohammadi), whose life story of challenges and triumphs plays out as Leila learns about a “scandal” from her mother’s past. The actress spoke with Keshavarz’s “inspiring” mother, on whom Shireen is based, and...
Noor plays Shireen in the film, the mother of the protagonist Leila (Layla Mohammadi), whose life story of challenges and triumphs plays out as Leila learns about a “scandal” from her mother’s past. The actress spoke with Keshavarz’s “inspiring” mother, on whom Shireen is based, and...
- 11/29/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Editors note: This review was originally published after its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It hits theaters Friday via Sony Pictures Classics.
The Persian Version, directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz, stars Layla Mohammadi and Niousha Noor as a mother and daughter at odds with one another.
The Persian Version starts with Lelia (Mohammadi) at a costume party in a self-made Burkini. This is where she meets Maximillian (Tom Byrne), a Broadway actor-singer dressed as Hedwig, and they have sex. When she wakes up the next morning, she starts with voice-over about her Persian upbringing, and Iran’s relationship with the United States. She details how she grew up in Brooklyn, but her parents are from Iran, and the country forbid everything with American influence, thought on her childhood trips back to the country, she smuggled Cyndi Lauper cassettes (cut to a young Lelia dancing with her mother...
The Persian Version, directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz, stars Layla Mohammadi and Niousha Noor as a mother and daughter at odds with one another.
The Persian Version starts with Lelia (Mohammadi) at a costume party in a self-made Burkini. This is where she meets Maximillian (Tom Byrne), a Broadway actor-singer dressed as Hedwig, and they have sex. When she wakes up the next morning, she starts with voice-over about her Persian upbringing, and Iran’s relationship with the United States. She details how she grew up in Brooklyn, but her parents are from Iran, and the country forbid everything with American influence, thought on her childhood trips back to the country, she smuggled Cyndi Lauper cassettes (cut to a young Lelia dancing with her mother...
- 10/20/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Persian Version,” in line with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Moonstruck,” sets out to capture the conflicting cultures of being a first-generation American, especially through the perspective of a coming-of-age story. And while the Sundance Award-winning film has a certain early 2000s charm to it, it tries to do too much too fast in terms of educating audiences about Iranian politics through the personal history of rising matriarch (yet current angsty outsider) Leila (Layla Mohammadi).
The “sort of” true story opens with Leila donning a burqa over a bikini (a “burq-ini”), hooking up with a “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” Broadway performer (Tom Byrne), and breaking the fourth wall to explain just how complicated her life as a queer Iranian-American woman is. It’s the kind of “Fleabag” commentary that feels too trendy and too convenient for a film with this amount of tonal shifts, zinging between Leila...
The “sort of” true story opens with Leila donning a burqa over a bikini (a “burq-ini”), hooking up with a “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” Broadway performer (Tom Byrne), and breaking the fourth wall to explain just how complicated her life as a queer Iranian-American woman is. It’s the kind of “Fleabag” commentary that feels too trendy and too convenient for a film with this amount of tonal shifts, zinging between Leila...
- 10/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned Iranian human rights activist whose “fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all” was cited by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
With today’s announcement, Mohammadi becomes the fifth person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize while incarcerated.
“Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes,” said Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen in announcing the award recipient. “Ms Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.”
Mohammadi has been an advocate for women’s rights since her days as a physics student in the 1990s, and came to international attention following her arrest during protests in the wake of the murder of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Jina Amini by the Iranian morality police.
With today’s announcement, Mohammadi becomes the fifth person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize while incarcerated.
“Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes,” said Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen in announcing the award recipient. “Ms Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.”
Mohammadi has been an advocate for women’s rights since her days as a physics student in the 1990s, and came to international attention following her arrest during protests in the wake of the murder of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Jina Amini by the Iranian morality police.
- 10/6/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Iranian human rights advocate and freedom fighter Narges Mohammadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, organizers of the award said Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel committee that awards the prize lauded Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
It highlighted: “Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.” Mohammadi is still in prison.
The prize also “recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the committee noted.
Iran has also been in focus for various Hollywood stars. For example, early this year, Cate Blanchett, Jason Momoa, Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Bryan Cranston were among members of the entertainment industry publicly supporting calls to end Iran‘s execution of protestors,...
The Norwegian Nobel committee that awards the prize lauded Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
It highlighted: “Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.” Mohammadi is still in prison.
The prize also “recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the committee noted.
Iran has also been in focus for various Hollywood stars. For example, early this year, Cate Blanchett, Jason Momoa, Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Bryan Cranston were among members of the entertainment industry publicly supporting calls to end Iran‘s execution of protestors,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A behind-closed-doors trial is being held in Tehran for an Iranian journalist on charges resulting from her coverage of Mahsa Amini, whose 2022 death in custody by Iran’s morality police sparked months of protest.
Elaheh Mohammadi, a reporter for the pro-reform Hammihan newspaper who is on trial in Tehran, as well as Sharq newspaper journalist, Niloofar Hamedi, have been accused of “colluding with hostile powers” for their coverage of Amini’s death, Reuters reports. The two journalists have been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since last September.
In October, Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused Mohammadi and Hamedi of being CIA agents.
Mohammadi’s trial began on Monday and Hamedi’s is scheduled to start Tuesday, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told the Times of Israel. Each is being tried separately by the revolutionary courts and could face the death penalty under Islamic law if convicted.
Elaheh Mohammadi, a reporter for the pro-reform Hammihan newspaper who is on trial in Tehran, as well as Sharq newspaper journalist, Niloofar Hamedi, have been accused of “colluding with hostile powers” for their coverage of Amini’s death, Reuters reports. The two journalists have been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since last September.
In October, Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused Mohammadi and Hamedi of being CIA agents.
Mohammadi’s trial began on Monday and Hamedi’s is scheduled to start Tuesday, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told the Times of Israel. Each is being tried separately by the revolutionary courts and could face the death penalty under Islamic law if convicted.
- 5/29/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Late last month the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the Taliban for systematically depriving Afghan women of their rights, demanding the country’s fundamentalist Islamic rulers provide “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls” in Afghan society.
It was an acknowledgement of how quickly the situation for women and girls has deteriorated since the Taliban retook control of Kabul in August 2021, following the departure of U.S. military forces. The dire reality for the distaff population of Afghanistan becomes heartbreakingly clear in the documentary Bread and Roses, which premiered today at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is directed by Afghan native Sahra Mani and produced by actress Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrochi, and Mani.
Director Sahra Mani (in white), producer Jennifer Lawrence, producer Justine Ciarrocchi (in silver necklace), Dr. Zahra Mohammadi (in white headscarf), and guests at the Cannes Film Festival Sunday, May 21, 2023.
“Do not forget about Afghan women!
It was an acknowledgement of how quickly the situation for women and girls has deteriorated since the Taliban retook control of Kabul in August 2021, following the departure of U.S. military forces. The dire reality for the distaff population of Afghanistan becomes heartbreakingly clear in the documentary Bread and Roses, which premiered today at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is directed by Afghan native Sahra Mani and produced by actress Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrochi, and Mani.
Director Sahra Mani (in white), producer Jennifer Lawrence, producer Justine Ciarrocchi (in silver necklace), Dr. Zahra Mohammadi (in white headscarf), and guests at the Cannes Film Festival Sunday, May 21, 2023.
“Do not forget about Afghan women!
- 5/21/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Salman Rushdie made a surprise appearance — his first since a man attacked him last August — on Thursday night at the Pen America gala in Manhattan, where he accepted the organization’s Centenary Courage Award.
“I wanted to say hi, everybody,” he said during his nine-minute speech. “It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to be back as opposed to not being back, which was also an option. And I’m pretty glad the dice rolled this way.” The author, who released a new book, Victory City, earlier this year,...
“I wanted to say hi, everybody,” he said during his nine-minute speech. “It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to be back as opposed to not being back, which was also an option. And I’m pretty glad the dice rolled this way.” The author, who released a new book, Victory City, earlier this year,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
EntertainmentWhile Shah Rukh Khan was listed in the ‘Icons’ category, Rajamouli was featured in the ‘Pioneers’ category. Novelist Salman Rushdie also found a spot in the 2023 list of icons.Two loved and celebrated personalities from Indian cinema –Actor Shah Rukh Khan and Director SS Rajamouli– each grabbed a spot in Time magazine’s 2023 list of 100 influential people in the world. While Shah Rukh Khan was listed in the ‘Icons’ category, Rajamouli of Rrr fame was featured in the ‘Pioneers’ category. Booker prize-winning Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie was also featured in the Icons category. Rushie recently survived a brutal attack in August 2022, when he was stabbed more than 10 times, damaging the optic nerve, and resulting in loss of sight in the right eye. In his interview with Time, speaking about his health, the author said, “...The eye is lost. The hand which was badly damaged is recovering quite well with a lot of therapy.
- 4/14/2023
- by Balakrishna
- The News Minute
Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed the North American rights to the Sundance award-winning film The Persian Version, a mother-daughter dramedy written, directed and produced by Maryam Keshavarz.
The film’s critical acclaim at Sundance, where it earned the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the same sidebar, brought buyer attention to the film and a subsequent bidding war where Sony Pictures Classics prevailed.
Keshavarz’s film about Iranian immigrants in New York and New Jersey feeling neither at home in America or Iran stars Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Kamand Shafieisabet, Bijan Daneshmand, Bella Warda, Chiara Stella, Tom Byrne and Shervin Alenabi.
The film centers on Iranian-American Leila, played by Mohammadi, who comes from two countries at odds with each other, and strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her.
The film’s critical acclaim at Sundance, where it earned the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the same sidebar, brought buyer attention to the film and a subsequent bidding war where Sony Pictures Classics prevailed.
Keshavarz’s film about Iranian immigrants in New York and New Jersey feeling neither at home in America or Iran stars Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Kamand Shafieisabet, Bijan Daneshmand, Bella Warda, Chiara Stella, Tom Byrne and Shervin Alenabi.
The film centers on Iranian-American Leila, played by Mohammadi, who comes from two countries at odds with each other, and strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her.
- 2/3/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s been three years since Hollywood touched down in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, with the 2023 fest offering a hybrid format of both in-person and online attendance after two years of purely digital incarnations. While the virtual festivals still produced major sales — 2021’s Coda being the most noteworthy — the overall market has lagged, with dealmaking continuing into the months after the close of the festival and mid-range deals becoming scarcer. Sellers are particularly excited for the return of in-person premieres, hoping that this will mean a return to urgency, if not a return to all-night bidding wars.
Here are this year’s titles that are sure to entice buyers, whether they are sitting in the Eccles or on their couch at home.
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World
Directors Ben Braun, Chiaki Yanagimoto
Buzz The doc, which could satisfy a streamer’s true crime or nonfiction thriller needs,...
Here are this year’s titles that are sure to entice buyers, whether they are sitting in the Eccles or on their couch at home.
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World
Directors Ben Braun, Chiaki Yanagimoto
Buzz The doc, which could satisfy a streamer’s true crime or nonfiction thriller needs,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFFKThe festival will honour Iranian filmmaker and women’s rights activist Mahnaz Mohammadi with the Spirit of Cinema award.Tnm StaffMahnaz Mohammadi / IFFKOf the 185 films that will be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk), 32 are directed by women from 17 countries. The 27th edition of the festival which will be held between December 9 and 16 in Thiruvananthapuram will honour a woman filmmaker with the Spirit of Cinema award. The felicitation was introduced in the last edition of the festival held in March this year, and the award was presented to Kurdish filmmaker Lisa Calan. In this edition, Iranian filmmaker and women’s rights activist Mahnaz Mohammadi will receive the award on the inaugural day of the Iffk. Mahnaz's first documentary, Women without Shadows, told the story of homeless and abandoned women in a shelter home. She has directed several other documentaries including Travelogue, in which she interviews on a train,...
- 12/2/2022
- by Cris
- The News Minute
Federal prosecutors say a translator hired by the U.S. to work in Afghanistan lied about his contacts with recruiters for the terrorist group behind a notorious bombing that killed 13 American troops in August 2021.
In a federal criminal complaint filed in Kansas on Monday, the government says Mohammad Rafi Mohammadi communicated with, funded, and, in one case, sought to secure the release of recruiters for Isis-Khorasan (Isis-k) both before and after he worked for the U.S. as a linguist in Afghanistan.
Mohammadi allegedly denied “ever associat[ing] with anyone involved...
In a federal criminal complaint filed in Kansas on Monday, the government says Mohammad Rafi Mohammadi communicated with, funded, and, in one case, sought to secure the release of recruiters for Isis-Khorasan (Isis-k) both before and after he worked for the U.S. as a linguist in Afghanistan.
Mohammadi allegedly denied “ever associat[ing] with anyone involved...
- 10/18/2022
- by Adam Rawnsley and Seamus Hughes
- Rollingstone.com
Tehran‘s second season is coming to a close with the finale episode, “Blood Funeral,” and we have your exclusive first look at the action with a preview clip. In the segment, Marjan (Season 2’s major asset Glenn Close) has a discussion with Yulia (Sara von Schwarze) about what to do next. “Moving on the men at his son’s funeral, it will be a diplomatic nightmare,” Yulia warns Marjan. “Wars have been started for less.” The mission is to take out Mohammadi (Vassilis Koukalani) and Marjan is determined to find her direct path to the individual. “As soon as Sepah finds out how Peyman died, we will never have this kind of access to Mohammadi again,” Marjan defends, pushing for the mission to continue. (Credit: Apple TV+) As Yulia weighs this option, she tells Marjan, “He’s a broken man. If you play it right, we could cut a...
- 6/16/2022
- TV Insider
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