2012 Program - Noor Iranian Film Festival

2012 has already been a landmark year for
Iranian cinema… but there is so much more
to see and so many more stories to be told…
I am truly honored to present the 5th annual Noor Iranian Film
Festival. This promises to be a milestone year for us. The endless
support and encouragement to continue NIFF has been vital
throughout this process, and we are grateful to all those who have
continued believing in the work we do.
Today, with Iran being a such hot media topic, it is even more important to showcase the
Noor Film
Festival Staff
festival director
Siamak Ghahremani
co-founders
Siamak Ghahremani
Anthony Azizi
Cymbeline Smith
Krista Behi
diverse narratives, the artistic storytelling, and the unique cinematic style expressed by
board of advisors
Iranian filmmakers in Iran and worldwide. 2012 has already been a landmark year for Iranian
Maz Jobrani
cinema with Asgar Farhadi’s A Separation winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film,
Shaun Toub
but there is so much more to see and so many more stories to be told. NIFF’s mission is to
Fariborz David Diaan
put the spotlight on these powerful Iranian films.
Among other themes, this year’s films illustrate courage in the face of repression, the
struggle ethnic minorities face, and the isolation one can feel when “home” no longer exists.
Whether feature, short, or documentary, from Iran, the US, or Greece, these films provide
a unique outlook on universal situations and depict global events through fresh, personal
perspectives, offering insights that reflect our humanity.
This year NIFF is also expanding to other cities; Seattle in September, Florida in November
Roxanna Rastegar
Alaleh Kamran
Parisa Defaie
coordinators
Sara Bavar
Soleiman Bolour
Shideh Etaat
Sharareh Ghahremani
Halleh Hashtpari
and Washington DC later in the fall with a vision of one day showcasing our films
Naysan Mahmoudi
internationally.
Sanam Rezazadeh
Saman Yaghmaie
Finally, I would like to acknowledge our sponsors and volunteers; without their unparalleled
support we would not be here today. They have contributed endless hours of energy and
commitment to make this event successful and I am indebted to them all. I would like to
take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our main sponsors Emirates Airlines, Pars
Piran Zarifian
art director
Behzad Tabatabai
Equality Center, Ritmo Mundo Watches, and Guard a Heart. I also would like to thank
poster and cover art
Javanan International Magazine for their support and coverage of NIFF every year and 670
Faye Vahdani
am KIRN for supporting us from day one.
webmaster
I hope you enjoy your experience at this year’s NIFF and leave inspired to bring awareness to
the importance of Iranian cinema. I look forward to seeing everyone again in future years.
Renata Hrzenjak
produced by
Siamak Ghahremani
Respectfully,
Siamak Ghahremani
consultant
Bita Milanian
public relations
and marketing
The Burgett Group
2012 Judges
Navid
Negahban
Behrouz
Vossoughi
Homa
Sarshar
Tony
Plana
Kristoff
St. John
Actor
Legendary
Iranian Actor
Awardwinning
Author &
Journalist
Actor
Actor
Ugly Betty
Young and
the Restless
Stoning of
Soraya M.
Homeland
Rhino Season
Primal Fear
Gheisar
Schedule at a Glance
Bad News Bears
Los Angeles Co-Sponsors
friday, august 3, 2012
6:45 pm Off Beat / Back Vocal
8:45 pm A Very Close Encounter
saturday, august 4, 2012
1:00 pm Keys To My Home / Voiceless / Followed by Q&A
3:20 pm 4 Minutes / A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night / All my Roots
seattle co-Sponsors
Blood Moon / Hairy (Pashmaloo) / I Will Greet The Sun Again
Followed by Q&A
6:30 pm Be Like Others / Followed by Q&A
9:00 pm Aghaye Hallou / Followed by Q&A
sunday, august 5, 2012
1:00 pm Nasseredin Shah and His 84 Wives / Tamam Gol / Followed by Q&A
3:20 pm T he Iran I Remember / This is Our House / Im Nowruz / Incoming
Daytona co-Sponsors
To the Moon / Followed by Q&A
6:30 pm Iran is My Home / My City Pizza / Followed by Q&A
9:45 pm The Iran Job / Followed by Q&A
monday, august 6, 2012
6:00 pm Bedrooms / Followed by Q&A
8:30 pm Love Crimes of Kabul / Bitter Milk / Followed by Q&A
tuesday, august 7, 2012
6:00 pm Losing Her / Followed by Q&A
8:30 pm A Separation
Washington D.C.
Coming Fall 2012
Selected films from Los Angeles will be
screened in Seattle, Daytona and D.C.
Sponsors & Friends
Javanan Magazine
www.javanan.com
Red Carpet Awards Ceremony
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
7:00pm Celebrity Red Carpet Arrivals / Meet & Greet
8:00 pmAwards Ceremony
Hosted by
Fariborz David Diaan
With
Melissa Shoshahi
Presenting the 2012 NFF awards in the following categories:
And a Special Performance by
Skirball Cultural Center
Magnin Auditorium
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Friday, August 3, 2012 6:45 pm
Sponsored by Pars Equality Center
Off Beat
Restrictions on performing rock concerts in Iran led a 10 ­member group of music fans in 2002 to hold a
contest on the Internet for Tehran’s underground rock bands.
Director: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Origin: Iran
Category: Documentary
Duration: 45 min
U.S. Premiere!!!
Back Vocal (Seda-ye Dovom)
Back Vocal explores Iran’s prohibition, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, of female solo singers. Capture
the struggles of contemporary Iranian singers and musicians working to be heard in their own country.
Director: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Origin: Iran
Category: Documentary
Duration: 40 min
U.S. Premiere!!!
Friday, August 3, 2012 8:45 pm
Sponsored by Ritmo Mondo
A Very Close Encounter
A car accident creates a suspicious for the investigator to find out the cause and the events that led to the
accident… while discovering deep emotional and personal relationships among the characters. It is about a
friendship that goes sour as the story widens through the detective findings.
Director: Esmaeel Mihandoust
Origin: Iran
Category: Feature
Duration: 105 min
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Saturday, August 4, 2012 1:00 pm
Sponsored by Guard a Heart
Keys To My Home
Since June 2009, at least 150 Iranian journalists have fled Iran, where persecution, unfair trials, forced
confessions, torture, and long prison sentences have made the Islamic Republic of Iran the worst jailer of
journalists worldwide. Today, more than half of the Iranian journalists living in exile are under the age of 35.
Dozens have permanently resettled in Western countries, most having been granted political asylum. “Keys
to My Home” is Luna Shad’s first documentary about the lives of Iranian journalists in Turkey, on their way to
relocation in other countries. U.S. Premiere!!!
Director: Luna Shad
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 36 min
Voiceless
Arian is a thirty year old Iranian immigrant, residing for the past two years in Athens, Greece. He is neither
an economic migrant nor a refugee. He’s left his country with practically nothing, just a visa and a dream:
studying theatre to become an actor. But how can anyone make his dream come true, living in the midst of a
foreign land?
Director: Antonis Tolakis
U.S. Premiere!!!
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Origin: Greece
Category: Documentary
Duration: 42 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Saturday, August 4, 2012 3:20 pm
4 Minutes
Four Private Security Military Contractors are hired by the US Department of Defense to pick up and transport
Dr. Aziz Malick near the region of Kandahar, Afghanistan to an undisclosed secret location. Their mission
comes to a sudden halt as the crew intercepts a suicide bomber in their passage through the isolated
mountainous terrains. Faced with life and death the men find themselves hunted by an enemy that knows
their every move.
World Premiere!!!
Director: Stephen Cyrus Sepher
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 16 min
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
A girl walks home alone at night and a strange man starts to follow her… obviously something bad is going
to happen.
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 8 min
World Premiere!!!
All My Roots
Inspired by a true story, “All My Roots” is about an Iranian girl, hospitalized in Los Angeles, battling a serious
illness and loneliness as the winter comes to an end.
Director: Kaveh Ghahremany
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 9 min
Blood Moon
Luke Parker, a brilliant young psychiatrist has always relied on analysis and logic. But his amazing mind can’t
fathom the call of his destiny. Luke’s patient, William Titus confirms why lunar is the root of lunatic. He’s a
serial killer, but more than that, he believes he’s a werewolf. Titus has a secret…
Director: Stephen Farnaz Samii
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 19 min
World Premiere!!!
Hairy (Pashmaloo)
Farah is from the US and Nilou was born and raised in Iran, and when they climb a remote hillside on the
outskirts of Tehran to hang out and listen to music, their differences come to a head when Farah tries to
explains why girls shouldn’t be ‘hairy’.
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Origin: Iran
Category: Short
Duration: 16 min
I Will Greet The Sun Again
Tehran at midnight. In an alleyway, IRAN, the protagonist, is raped by three men. After the offence, a stranger
takes her home in his car. As she talks to her husband, the tone becomes increasingly exacerbated. He
understands what has happened to his wife. He washes her by force in the bath tub to get rid of the “shame”.
She leaves her husband and her previous life.
Director: Shahbaz Noshir
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Origin: Germany
Category: Short
Duration: 14 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Saturday, August 4, 2012 6:30 pm
Be Like Others
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with strict social mores and traditional values, sex-change operations
are legal. Over twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious edict) making sex change
permissible for “diagnosed transsexuals.” Yet homosexuality is still punishable by death. Highly feminine and
attracted to members of the same sex, yet forced to live in secret for fear of retribution, a generation of young
Iranian men are adopting an identity legally allowed to them—transsexual.
Director: Tanaz Eshaghian
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 79 min
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Saturday, August 4, 2012 9:00 pm
Sponsored by KIRN 670AM
Aghaye Hallou (Mr. Gullible)
Special guest scheduled to appear: Fakhri Khorvash
A naive countryside man leaves his hometown for Tehran to find a wife. While shopping for a wedding dress,
he meets Mehri, a beautiful and charming girl. It is a dream come true! Thinking that he has found his future
wife, he asks Mehri’s father for permission to marry her, only to find out that not only is she not his daughter
but she works there as a prostitute and is the lover of Habib. In spite of his findings, he is firm in his decision
to marry her and let Habib know of his plans, regardless of the consequences.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui
Origin: Iran
Category: Feature
Duration: 90 min
Special Programming
“Nostalgic night”
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Sunday, August 5, 2012 1:00 pm
Sponsored by Guard a Heart
Nasseredin Shah and his 84 wives
Women with moustaches, a self-indulgent king, an imperialistic England, and not at least, a beautiful calico
cat, are the main actors in this documentary depicting the power struggles and intrigues in the Persian harem
in the second half of the 19th century.
The documentary is an investigation into how things became as they are in Iran, but from a perspective that is
all too often overlooked, namely, the influential role played by women in the political processes.
Director: Beate Petersen
Origin: Norway
Category: Documentary
Duration: 58 min
Tamam Gol
Tamam Gol has lived for more than seven decades. She’s an old woman living in a western village of Iran
called Yaromjeh Bagh like all her ancestors before her. The villagers believe that only a son can keep the name
of his family alive. A man who has no son is regarded as sterile. When she was a child Tamam Gol was asked
by her father to wear boy’s clothing, and help him run the farm. Tamam Gol does so and takes care of her
parents and her three sisters as if she were the young man of the family. Her parents die. She helps her sisters
get married. Tamam Gol still wears men’s clothes and people have forgotten that she ever was a woman.
Director: Payam Zinalabedini
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Origin: Iran
Category: Documentary
Duration: 30 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Sunday, August 5, 2012 3:20 pm
Sponsored by Guard a Heart
The Iran I Remember
Iran is an enigma in the West, where it is talked about but rarely understood. When I went there to attend a
family wedding I took my camera ready to explore, learn, and document our journey. THE IRAN I REMEMBER
is the echo of this journey to a homeland that I left so many years ago. It is the search for my own past
intertwined with the history, culture, and literature of Iran.
Director: Morteza Rezvani
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 50 min
This is Our House
In the aftermath of the Iraq war, Abdul Ameer Alwan experiences isolation and anonymity after seeking asylum
in the United States. A renowned painter in his native Iraq, his artwork was inspired by routine encounters inside
his neighborhood. Living abroad, he is disconnected from the source of his creativity and unable to relate to his
new environment. Meanwhile, his young daughter Aman, born just weeks before the 2003 invasion, has spent
most of her life outside Iraq and carries only a faint notion of her birthplace. The film explores a relationship
between a father and daughter through themes of memory, culture, identity, and displacement.
Director: Ramtin Nikzad
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 11 min
IM Nowruz
“IM Nowruz” (IM as in “instant message”) is the story of four Iranian-American cousins struggling to assemble
in Los Angeles to commemorate Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated at the spring equinox, and the
festival of fire that precedes it. Unfortunately,physical and emotional distances among them turn the planned
gathering into a great challenge.
“Can technology save tradition?” is one of several questions the film addresses while examining issues
faced by many first generation immigrants such as the shackles of custom, cultural alienation, technological
displacement and human sexuality.
World Premiere!!!
Director: Afshin Javadi
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 16 min
Incoming
Claudia, a woman with a painful secret, lives a solitary life in Brooklyn. She goes to work, comes home,
smokes pot, goes to bed, and starts the same cycle again the next day. But all that changes when she meets
Allen, an eccentric neighbor who likes to sunbathe in the parking lot beneath her balcony.
During a hot week in August, the offbeat Allen manages to puncture Claudia’s bubble, and in the smallest of
ways, make a difference in her life.
World Premiere!!!
Director: Mozhan Marno
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 14 min
To the Moon
Growing up in Iran where bombs frequently fell from the sky, a free-spirited girl leaves behind her father and
moves to America to find freedom. Only to realize the oppression has followed her all the way to LA.
Director: Damian Harris
World Premiere!!!
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Origin: USA
Category: Short
Duration: 22 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Sunday, August 5, 2012 6:30 pm
Iran is my Home
Filmmaker, Fariborz David Diaan, an expatriate residing in Los Angeles , left his native Iran as a teenager,
unable to return due to the sudden and fierce changes that rocked Iran in 1979. However, motivated by a
deep longing to visit his motherland despite political tensions, he finally deemed it safe enough to pay a
visit after nearly three decades. Ready for a culture shock, yet haunted by fading memories of his childhood,
Fariborz filmed his journey with a small handheld camera but an adoring eye, eager to capture every moment.
Through candid and unrehearsed interviews on the streets, Fariborz delves into the hearts and minds of a
humble people surrounded on the one hand by the remnants of mythical Persia, and the encroaching realities
of a modern world on the other.
Director: David Diaan
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 70 min
My City Pizza
While a wide range of delicious and well-known traditional foods are available, yet Pizza is very popular in
Tehran. This light-hearted, amusing, fast-paced document about eating habits in modern Tehran offers a
kaleidoscopic view of the Iranian society. We see young people, old people, progressive and conservative
Iranians who all divulge their identity via their standpoints with respect to the advancing Italian fast food;
Pizza, in the capital.
Director: Ala Mohseni
Origin: Iran
Category: Documentary
Duration: 26 min
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Sunday, August 5, 2012 9:45 pm
Sponsored by Javanan Magazine
The Iran Job
Kevin Sheppard, a professional American basketball player, accepts a job to play in one of the world’s most
feared countries, Iran. What begins as a job-for-hire ends in an emotional roller coaster as Kevin forms an
unlikely alliance with three Iranian women against the backdrop of revolutionary upheaval in Tehran.
Director: Till Schauder
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 93 min
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Monday, August 6, 2012 6:00 pm
Bedrooms
Women with moustaches, a self-indulgent king, an imperialistic England, and not at least, a beautiful calico
cat, are the main actors in this documentary depicting the power struggles and intrigues in the Persian harem
in the second half of the 19th century. The documentary is an investigation into how things became as they
are in Iran, but from a perspective that is all too often overlooked, namely, the influential role played by
women in the political processes.
Directors: Yousef Delara, Michael Olmos, Victor Teran
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
Origin: USA
Category: Feature
Duration: 83 min
Immigration Problems?
No need to worry, we are here to help!!!
American Law Center is a full service immigration law firm handling all aspects
of immigration including but not limited to the following:
4
4
4
Having the right immigration
attorney will make a world of
difference. Contact our office
to schedule a Legal Consultation
with Immigration Attorney
Nassim Arzani
Removal Proceedings specializing in those with criminal convictions
Obtaining temporary visa’s in the following categories:
- H-1B Professionals
- E-1 Treaty traders
- J-1 Trainees
- E-2 Treaty traders
- L-1 Intercompany managers and executives
- P-1 Athletes and entertainers
- O-1 Persons of extraordinary ability*
Obtaining permanent residency through Family Petitions, Employment, Investment and Asylum
*O Visa for Artist: Have you received international acclaim demonstrating extraordinary ability in
the arts, or the motion picture or television industry? If so you are eligible for entry into the United
States under the Nonimmigrant O Visa Program.
Call us first
951.683.0900 & 951.710.3180
www.ImmigrationLawyerInfo.org
This is a legal advertisement.
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Monday, August 6, 2012 8:30 pm
Sponsored by Leventine Cultural Center
Love crimes of Kabul
LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL is an intimate portrait of three young Afghani women accused of committing
“moral crimes” such as premarital sex and running away from home. As we follow them from prison to
trial, we discover the pressures and paradoxes that women in Afghanistan face today-and the dangerous
consequences when they refuse to fit in.
Director: Tanaz Eshaghian
Origin: USA
Category: Documentary
Duration: 72 min
Bitter Milk
As a result of the bombarding, many people of the war-torn Afghanistan have gone homeless and more
poverty-stricken. In order to earn a living and after many sufferings, Aziz’s family and some other Afghan
families are going to Pakistani border with their infants
Director: Nasser Zamiri
Origin: Iran
Category: Short
Duration: 29 min
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
TUESDAY, August 7, 2012 6:00 pm
Sponsored by Ritmo Mondo
Losing Her
Davis (Dave Moutray) joins a grief therapy group to get over the loss of his fiancé, and interacts with a
group of strangers sharing loss of a loved one. He gets to know Joe and Amy (Michael Toro and Kristine
Geraloga), who lost their daughter, and Kallie (Kathreen Khavari) a young Iranian woman struggling with her
loss in destructive ways. He finds comfort in their stories of grief, but his own story holds a devastating secret.
Directors: Dave Moutray, Shahaub Roudbari
Origin: USA
Category: Feature
Duration: 78 min
World Premiere!!!
? & ! Screening Followed by Q&A Session
TUESDAY, August 7, 2012 8:30 pm
Sponsored by KPFK FM
A Separation
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another
country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer’s disease.
WINNER OF 2012 ACADEMY AWARD - BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Leila Hatami as Simin and Peyman Moadi as Nader
Photo by Habib Madjidi © Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Special thanks to…
Origin: Iran
Category: Feature
Duration: 123 min
Reza
Badiyi
April 17, 1930 – August 20, 2011
Thank you for continuing to make a difference in our world.
without dreams…
“isLife
a bird with a broken wing.”