2013 Program - Noor Iranian Film Festival

NIFF has been the voice of many
who are unheard and the vision of
others who are unseen...
Noor Film
Festival Staff
festival director
Siamak Ghahremani
co-founders
Siamak Ghahremani
After five successful years, I am honored to present the sixth
annual Noor Iranian Film Festival (NIFF).
Since our premiere in 2007, we have witnessed many changes and much growth in
the Iranian film industry. We are repeatedly astonished by the creativity and talent
exhibited in the films we receive. We are excited to share this year’s line up of more
than 35 officially selected films from filmmakers around the world. The films exhibit a
broad range of styles and explore a diverse set of issues relevant to our community.
Besides being able to showcase a fantastic group of films, this year’s program is a
very special one to us. It is our pleasure to honor Ms. Shohreh Aghdashloo with the
2013 Achievement Award. We take this opportunity to recognize Ms. Aghdashloo for
all that she has done for the Iranian community and artists in the film industry.
Over the years, NIFF has contributed in the education and expansion of Iranian
culture and art through the media of film. It has provided a platform for filmmakers
to express their views in a time of historical change around the world. More
importantly, it has been the voice of many who are unheard and the vision of others
who are unseen.
Anthony Azizi
Cymbeline Smith
Krista Behi
board of advisors
Maz Jobrani
Shaun Toub
Homa Sarshar
Fariborz David Diaan
Roxanna Rastegar
Alaleh Kamran
Parisa Defaie
Bahar Sedarati
staff & coordinators
Sharareh Ghahremani
Naysan Mahmoudi
Soleiman Bolour
Sana Sepehri
Melody Mandegar
Golnaz Farpour
Shahaub Roudbari
Adrienne Varkiani
Though we started in Los Angeles, we have been fortunate to be able to take the
best of NIFF to other cities around the U.S., where we have been embraced with a
great reception from our local community sponsors. In the coming year we plan to
travel to more cities and continue promoting this artform
Saman Mohammadian
NIFF has thrived because of community support. I would like to express my
personal appreciation and gratitude to our judges, volunteers, sponsors, and most
importantly, our board of advisors. Without their exceptional contributions none of
this would be possible. For that, I am truly thankful.
Faye Vahdani
I hope you enjoy your experience at this year’s festival and I look forward to your
continuous support in future years.
Siamak Ghahremani
art director
Behzad Tabatabai
poster and cover art
webmaster
Renata Hrzenjak
produced by
consultants
Alireza Hekmatshoar
Respectfully,
Nino Simone
Siamak Ghahremani
public relations
and marketing
The Burgett Group
festival Schedule
october
18
FRI
october
19
SAT
october
20
SUN
october
21
MON
october
22
TUE
october
23
WED
october
24
THU
6:30 pm Chicken with Plums
8:30 pmThe Muslims are coming
Dimensions
1:00 pm Plastic Flowers Never Die / My Stolen Revolution
3:15 pmFade / Foreign Birthday / Frankly, Rebecca
When We Pass by Each Other / Why Doesn’t it Rain
5:45 pm Love and Politics / Speaking of Baghdad
8:00 pm The Devil’s Bill / Ziba
12:30 pm Special Event
2:45 pmNeedle / Overdue / Pepe & Lucas / Silk / Shadow of Love
Rostam in Wonderland: Sohrabs’s Blood / Tuesday
6:00 pm Snow on Pines – Special guest: Mahnaz Afshar
8:45 pm I am Nasrine / The Sight is Not Blocked Anymore
6:15 pm Targeting Iran / The Skin That Burns
8:30 pmAlmost in Love
The Goodbye Hotel
6:15 pm A Glass of Milk / A Survivor from Magadan
8:30 pmYesterday You Said Tomorrow / From Tehran to London
A Better Place Than This
6:30 pm The Gardener / Tehrangeles
8:30 pm Filly Brown
Awards Ceremony
7:00 pm Celebrity Red Carpet Arrivals
8:00 pm Awards Ceremony
SCREENINGS
AWARDS CEREMONY
Laemmle’s Theater Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Skirball Cultural Center - Magnin Auditorium
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Red Carpet Awards Ceremony
Hosted by
Fariborz David Diaan
AND
NADINE RAJABI
HONORING
SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO
with the 2013 NIFF Achievement Award
Award presented by
hawk koch
President of Producer’s Guild of America
Former President of The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
2013 Judges
MARSHALL
MANESH
Dennis
Haysbert
Farajallah
Heidari
Actor
Actor
Cinematographer
The Big Lebowski
34
Pirates of
the Carribean
The Unit
Nasredeen Shah:
Cinema Actor
How I met
your Mother
Sponsors & Friends
Javanan Magazine
www.javanan.com
Special thanks to Alireza Hekmatshoar
and his show Close Up on 670 AM KIRN
Heat
Avaz e Ghoo
Zane Ziadi
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Friday, October 18, 2013 6:30 pm
Sponsored by Pars equality center
Chicken with Plums
Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost
all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he confines himself to bed to await death.
Director: M
arjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Category: Feature
Duration: 93 min
Friday, October 18, 2013 8:30 pm
The Muslims are Coming
THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING! follows a band of Muslim-­‐American comedians as they visit big cities, small
towns, rural villages, and everything in between to combat Islamophobia! These Muzzies not only perform
standup at each tour stop but create ridiculous interventions in unsuspecting town squares, like the ol’ classic,
“Ask a Muslim Booth.”
Director: N
egin Farsad & Dean Obeidallah
Category: Documentary
Duration: 80 min
Dimensions
This short film explores the concept of the ‘dimensions’ we occupy through the brief yet intense experience of
two young people. It asks us how deep are the bonds that tie? How tenuous are our emotional attachments
and our motivations that drive our feelings of joy and grief?
Director: N
eysan Sobhani
Category: Short
Duration: 5 min
Saturday, October 19, 2013 1:00 pm
Plastic Flowers Never Die
The war with Iraq was the largest mobilization of the Iranian population, achieved primarily by producing
and promoting a culture of martyrdom based on religious themes. Martyrdom became state policy.
Anthropologist, writer and filmmaker Roxanne Varzi spent twelve years researching and writing about
post-Revolution public culture in Iran. As an Iranian-American who was born in Iran and left shortly after the
Revolution, she found that even though she had missed the war with Iraq it was omnipresent. The film is an
experimental documentary and meditation on the aftermath of the war, and especially the mourning after.
Director: R
oxanne Varzi
Category: Documentary
Duration: 33 min
My Stolen Revolution
After recent protests in Iran awaken Filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani’s memories to a time when as a
young activist she fled after the 1979 revolution, she begins a quest to find her surviving friends. Haunted by
the guilt of abandoning her imprisoned friends and her brother, Rostam, who was later executed, she finally
finds them and learns about their horrific torture and about Rostam’s final days.”
Director: N
ahid Persson Sarvestani
Visit > noorfilmfestival.com
for schedule of Guests Appearances
and Question & Answer sessions
Category: Documentary
Duration: 58 min
A very special
thank you to
beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Saturday, October 19, 2013 3:15 pm
Sponsored by Beverly Hills Film Festival
Fade
Seated at a wake, Shay is grieving her loss when suddenly confronted by a mysterious man with a piercing
stare. Unable to avoid him, Shay delves into fragments of memories and precious moments that defined the
love she once shared with her husband.
Director: P
arish Rahbar
Category: Short
Duration: 13 min
Foreign Birthday
Some cultures celebrate birthdays differently from others…
Director: S
ean Rohani
Category: Animation
Duration: 1 min
Frankly, Rebecca
Abandoned by the male figures in her life, a young girl creates an imaginary friend who will never leave her...
even after she’s all grown up.
Director: S
hahaub Roudbari
Category: Short
Duration: 7 min
When We Pass by Each Other
One morning like any other, a couple is getting ready to go to work. He takes the car, and she takes a taxi
because he doesn’t wait for her. They meet up by chance a little while later, when they really weren’t thinking
about each other anymore.
Director: E
lika Rezaee
Category: Short
Duration: 17 min
Why Doesn’t It Rain
Residents of a drought-striken Iranian village pray for rain for days but when it doesn’t rain, they question why
God does not hear their voices. Then their cleric finds out that the house in which a little boy lives with her ill
sister and grandmother has a large hole in its roof. If it rains the family will suffer. Thinking that this is why their
prayer is not effective, the villagers set off to fix the hole.
Director: R
oohangiz Shams
Category: Short
Duration: 40 min
Saturday, October 19, 2013 5:45 pm
Love and Politics
Judith Malina founded The Living Theater in 1947 together with her first husband, Julian Beck. Widowed,
Judith was left to continue the Living Theater on her own. On the verge of her 85th birthday, she begins
rehearsals on her new play so that before she dies she can make a her final plea for the beautiful non-violent
anarchist revolution. But a deteriorating health and a slew of financial problems serve as obstacles to her
realizing her dreams of bringing about change.
Director: A
zad Jafarian
Category: Documentary
Duration: 53 min
Speaking of Baghdad
An acclaimed international cast performs stories about life during the war, written over a decade by Iraqi
writers in Baghdad. Directed by George Larkin. Featuring performances from David Diaan, Naz Deravian,
C.S. Lee, Rex Lee, Silas Weir Mitchell, Navid Negahban, Geoffrey Owens, Keith Szarabajka, and Michael Urie.
Written by Saad Rahman, Saad Saeed, Basim Al-Hajar, and Majed Jarrar.
Director: G
eorge Larkin
Category: Short
Duration: 28 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Saturday, October 19, 2013 8:00 pm
The Devil’s Bill
An ambitious young Senator is faced with a chilling choice offered by the Ultimate Politician. They always said
political progress would require sacrifice…
Director: A
mir Aghelnejad
Category: Short
Duration: 8 min
Ziba
Through the character of Ziba, an upper-class housewife in today’s Tehran, we experience the asphyxiation
lived on a daily basis by Iranians. Unable to relate to her environment, Ziba leads an alienated life, caught in
the repetitive motions of the everyday and unable to express to those around her what is wrong. One day, she
finds herself in an unexpected situation, confronted with her own choices and indecisions. This film is a rather
visceral metaphor of the general state of oppression and imposed silence in Iran.
Director: B
ani Khoshnoudi
SUNDAY, October 20, 2013 2:45 pm
Category: Feature
Duration: 82 min
Sponsored by Beverly Hills Film Festival
Needle
Young Lilly is going to get her ears pierced. A quarrel between her parents overwhelms the situation and
directs it differently.
Director: A
nahita Ghazvinizadeh
Category: Short
Duration: 21 min
Overdue
Krissy and Brendan want a natural birth. In New York City, parents have two weeks from their due date before
doctors must induce. Today is Krissy and Brendan’s due date and they’ll try anything to avoid inducing now
that they’re Overdue. Overdue marks the directorial debut of Tony nominee Arian Moayed and features the
voice of Cara Muhlhahn, world renowned midwife and star of The Business of Being Born.
Director: A
rian Moayed
Category: Short
Duration: 9 min
Pepe & Lucas
A hi-tech street fight is waged between an angry clown and an innocent street mime to finish centuries of
rivalry that finally proves who greater entertainer. But they find that they bring happiness to a world without
joy by working together.
Director: M
o Davoudian
Category: Animation
Duration: 9 min
Silk
Silk is the story of Rani (Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo) a woman given away by her family and forced
into marriage at age 11. Now an immigrant living and working in the garment industry of downtown LA with a
husband she never loved, Rani encounters a group of brazen young woman who will illuminate what life is like
outside the confines of her forced marriage.
Director: C
atherine Dent
Category: Short
Duration: 17 min
Sunday 2:45pm schedule continued on next page >
Farzad Kohan
Paintings, Sculptures, Drawings
farzadkohan@aol.com
818.926.2230
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
< Sunday 2:45pm schedule continued from previous page
SUNDAY, October 20, 2013 2:45 pm
Tuesday
Tuesday is a short film about Nima, a young boy from a Persian, immigrant family living in the United States.
The film follows Nima on the day he expects his mother to return from the hospital. As the day progresses, we
experience the events of the day through Nima’s perspective as he anticipates his mother’s return.
Director: M
ohammad Tavakoli
Category: Short
Duration: 15 min
Rostam in Wonderland: Sohrab’s Blood
Rostam, the mythical Persian hero ends up in present Iran to find that things have changed since the ancient
times. Rostam, who has stabbed his son, Sohrab, turns to Simorgh for a way to save him, only to find out that
modern medicine has its own complications when it comes to prescription drugs.
Director: P
ouya Afshar & Soroush Rezaee
Category: Animation
Duration: 7 min
Shadow of Love
The story of a man who wants to sleep but he can’t because of his wife’s snoring.
Director: A
meneh Moghaddam
Category: Short
Duration: 10 min
SUNDAY, October 20, 2013 6:00 pm
Snow on Pines
Roya, a piano teacher (Mahnaz Afshar), realizes that her marriage to Ali is in a deadlock when she discovers
some of her husband’s secrets. In the meantime she meets a young musician (Saber Abar) and has to make a
painful choice. This directorial debut from writer and actor Payman Maadi (A Separation), evocatively filmed in
black and white, scored best actress award for Mahnaz Afshar and best film and best script awards for Maadi
at the 2013 Iranian Film Critics Guild Awards.
Director: P
ayman Maadi
Category: Feature
Duration: 92 min
Scheduled to appear: Mahnaz Afshar
SUNDAY, October 20, 2013 8:45 pm
I am Nasrine
I Am Nasrine: A film about love, finding oneself and the eternal search for home. In this coming of age story
we meet a young woman who is doing her best to understand herself, deal with the consequences of the
politics around her and find a better world.
Director: T
ina Gharavi
Category: Feature
Duration: 86 min
The Sight is not Blocked Anymore
A dirty windshield has blocked a woman’s sight. She decides to solve this problem in a different way.
Director: H
amidreza Samkay
Category: Short
Duration: 7 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Monday, October 21, 2013 6:15 pm
Targeting Iran
Targeting Iran is designed to help Western audiences understand the complexities of historic and
contemporary U.S./Iranian relations in an effort to derail potential military action. Based on the book by
David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky, Ervand Abrahamian and Nahid Mozaffari. Interviewees include Barsamian,
Chomsky, Mozaffari, Trita Parsi, Nazila Fathi, Stephem Kinzer and Vandana Shiva. Stunning visual footage of
contemporary Iran provided by travel writer/television host Rick Steves.
Director: A
ndy Norris
Category: Documentary
Duration: 68 min
The Skin that Burns
The Skin That Burns tells the story of Iran’s volunteer soldiers who were exposed to chemical bombs during
the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). The film follows veteran Ahmad Salimi, who is now legally blind and has scars
throughout his body from exposure to chemical weapons. From the daily regimen of pills that Ahmad has to
take to the inhalers that allow him to breathe, Ahmad’s story reveals the deadly affects of chemical bombs,
chronicles one man’s determination to live, and explores families struggle with disability.
Director: N
arges Bajoghli
Monday, October 21, 2013 8:30 pm
Category: Documentary
Duration: 21 min
Sponsored by 670 am kirn radio
Almost in Love
A love story shot in two continuous 40 minute takes set eighteen months apart: the first over a sunset in
Staten Island, the second over a sunrise in East Hampton.
Director: S
am Neave
Category: Feature
Duration: 83 min
The Goodbye Hotel
Two ill-fated Parisians come to terms with the fate of their love in a Hollywood motel room, circa 1967.
Director: D
aniel Pour
Tuesday, October 22, 2013 6:15 pm
Category: Short
Duration: 8 min
Sponsored by javanan magazine
A Glass of Milk
A village boy has lost his mother and lives with his father. One day his father does not come from the mines
and the boy is left hungry for days. At school he asks a little girl for a glass of water, but instead the girl’s
mother offers him a glass of milk and food. Years later, the little boy, now great doctor, recognizes the woman
who once fed him.
Director: R
oohangiz Shams
Category: Short
Duration: 45 min
A Survivor from Magadan
In 1947, at the age of 20, Ata Safavi who was a leftist activist in Iran was threatened by the Shah’s agents and
decided to escape to the Soviet Union. For his attempted illegal entry into the Soviet Union, he was captured
and sentenced to two years in prison. Later he was convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to five
years in a prison in Magadan, a town located in northeastern Russia. While most of his three thousands fellow
prisoners died or committed suicide, Ata decided to fight for his right to live. This is the story of his best years
spent in the most inhuman circumstances…
Director: A
ref Mohammadi
Category: Documentary
Duration: 60 min
Screening Schedule
Laemmle’s Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Tuesday, October 22, 2013 8:30 pm
Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
‘Yesterday you said Tomorrow’ shows the daily struggles and the recovery stages of a suffering drug addict.
The filmmaker chronicles Pejman’s journey as he tries to overcome his addiction. Using any recording device
at hand, this documentary upholds a ‘raw’, ‘homemade’ look intended to maintain the authenticity of the
story. Pejman inevitably encounters certain figures who want to help him throughout his recovery. He is left
with choices that will ultimately shape his future.
Director: O
jen Vahedi
Category: Documentary
Duration: 10 min
From London to Tehran
Ava is imprisoned in an unhappy marriage with Ashkan. When the housekeeper disappears - Maryam was
Ava’s help in everything - the marital crisis gets worse. Akbari had reached this point in the story when several
directors were arrested in Iran. She left Iran, also leaving behind her original vision of the film. She completed
it in the United Kingdom, re-titling it From Tehran to London.
Director: M
ania Akbari
Category: Short
Duration: 45 min
A Better Place Than This
A Singaporean death row guard tries to help inmates accept their impending deaths. But a deeper
connection with a young female inmate shakes his belief in the system around which he has built his life.
Director: D
aniel Grove
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 6:30 pm
Category: Short
Duration: 26 min
Sponsored by PAAIA
The Gardner
The Gardener is a film about an Iranian filmmaker and his son who travel to Israel to learn about the role of
religion in the world.
Director: M
ohsen Makhmalbof
Category: Documentary
Duration: 87 min
Tehrangeles
Amir, a young Iranian immigrant, and his wife, Sofia, struggle to cope in the land of opportunity as the past
continues to haunt them. Working in a diner to make ends meet, the two must overcome their decision to
leave the homeland.
Director: M
arcel Giwargis
Category: Short
Duration: 6 min
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 8:30 pm
Filly Brown
FILLY BROWN is an inspiring and gritty portrait of a young artist striving to find her voice and seize her
dreams without compromise. Majo Tonorio, aka, “Filly Brown” is a young, raw hip-hop artist from Los Angeles
who spits rhymes from the heart. With a mother in prison and a father struggling to provide for his daughters,
Majo knows that a record contract could be her family’s ticket out. But when a record producer offers her a
shot at stardom, she is suddenly faced with the prospect of losing who she is as an artist, as well as the friends
who helped her reach the cusp of success.
Director: Y
oussef Delara & Michael D. Olmos
Category: Feature
Duration: 104 min