Category Archives: Diversity


‘Shayda’ director on producing her debut feature: “I needed to be at that table”

Directing, Diversity, Film

BY SANDY GEORGE Screen International 8 DECEMBER 2023

Tehran-born filmmaker Noora Niasari tells Screen about balancing light and dark in debut feature Shayda

Shayda

Australia’s Oscar entry Shayda first won over audiences at Sundance in January, where it won the audience award in the world cinema dramatic competition — and was scooped up by Sony Pictures Classics for North America. It has gone on to win further prizes, including the $65,000 (a$100,000) CinefestOZ film prize in September.

“Many people say, ‘It’s so authentic, it’s so honest’, and that’s beautiful, it’s what every filmmaker wants to hear,” says Tehran-born writer/director Noora Niasari. “But I had to dig into my childhood trauma every single day to bring that story to screen.”

Her memories, together with 50,000 words written by her mother, were the basis of the 1995‑set “quasi-autobiographical” story of Shayda (played by Zar Amir Ebrahimi), a woman sheltering from her husband Hossein (Osamah Sami) in a Melbourne refuge with her six-year-old daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia).

“Things happened [in real life] that some audiences wouldn’t be able to believe,” Niasari says. “At a certain point, we [Niasari and script editor Lynne Vincent McCarthy] started mapping out the movie by keeping whatever served the narrative and the cinematic experience. Sometimes reality is harsher than fiction and we had to balance the light and dark.”

Moments of beauty — Shayda framed in the style of a Renaissance painting, for example, or dancing with her daughter — offer respite from the tension emanating from her fear that the little girl will be abducted. Niasari praises the young actress for her ability to lock into the emotion of a situation, noting that Zahednia cried, unprompted, in her first audition before snapping out of those feelings the moment it was finished.

“Selina is incredibly special, so emotionally intelligent and present,” says the filmmaker. “She had a deep connection with Zar. From their first encounter, they were painting each other’s nails and playing games. They were in sync, they had undeniable chemistry.”

Niasari, a film graduate from Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, had directed several short films and the 2017 documentary Antunez House prior to making Shayda. Asal Daram, who she had cast as a 15-year-old for her 2017 short Waterfall, was employed as the director’s assistant on Shayda to help shape Zahednia’s performance.

“We did a lot of workshopping, a lot of play, a lot of puzzling out how we would get the performance we needed without traumatising her,” Niasari explains. “She never knew what was really going on [in the story]. We would create scenarios to get the reactions we needed, so we could protect her from the content. I wanted more than anything to retain her joy and unburdened innocence.”

In one scene, a frightened Mona looks out of the back window of a car. Zahednia was told an angry dog was chasing the vehicle whereas, in the film, it is her on-screen father. A double who could not speak Farsi was on set when the father character said things that were inappropriate for Zahed­nia to hear.

Niasari, script in hand, instigated meetings with several experienced producers before Vincent Sheehan from Origma 45 impressed her with his passion for the project. He brought in Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton of Dirty Films as executive producers, giving financiers confidence. Investors included Screen Australia and The 51 Fund. Shayda also received backing from Melbourne International Film Festival’s Premiere Fund, and opened the Australian festival in August. SPC released for an awards-qualifying week in the US beginning December 1, ahead of a full rollout next year. Vertigo Releasing follows in the UK in March.

Niasari also acted as a producer on her debut feature. “There were cultural, personal and political aspects, and very real [potential] repercussions on my life, my family’s life,” she says. “I needed to be at the table, contributing to the discussions and being across every decision, creative or otherwise.”

Being a producer helped get Niasari what she wanted for the project, which included hiring Iranian-­Australian cinema­tographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh — her regular collaborator and fellow feature first-timer — and an on-set therapist for the cast and crew, including herself. Midway through production, Niasari even started a transcendental meditation course.

“On a film like this, the pressure and emotional toll can be overwhelming,” she says. “You have to carve out time and set boundaries so you can also tend to yourself. Only then can you show up for the film and your team in the best way.”

Niasari intends Shayda to be the first of a trilogy of films about Iranian women — she is planning an adaptation of Iranian-American author Mahsa Rahmani Noble’s historical fiction novel Raya as the follow-up. The project was brought to her by Gary Foster, who is producing alongside Kate Fenske for Sister. Niasari and Foster first met in 2018 when Niasari heard Foster speak at an Australian conference.

“It was a life-changing encounter and Gary has been a mentor to me ever since,” Niasari says. UTA and FilmNation Entertainment are handling inter­national sales on Raya, which is well underway. “We’ve cast the leads, we’re out to market and aiming to shoot in 2024 in Paris,” she says.

‘Patriarchy has no gender. It doesn’t break down like that’: film-maker Nina Menkes dissects the male gaze

Directing, Diversity, Latest News

New documentary uses hundreds of clips to show how even the most acclaimed classics of cinema have encouraged a culture of sexual harassment of women

Anna Smith The Guardian Fri 21 Apr 2023 19.00 AEST

“I get letters every day from people around the world, saying, ‘Oh my God, thank you for making this’,” says Nina Menkes. “But one woman told me, ‘You’ve ruined all my favourite films’.”

Menkes is the director of Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, a documentary arguing that even the most acclaimed classics of cinema have encouraged a culture of sexual harassment of women. Using hundreds of clips, Menkes shows how female characters are consistently framed as the object by the male subject.

We see sex scenes full of fragmented female bodies, shown part by part. Women’s behinds being ogled by the leading man. Endless passive, even unconscious objectified women. At the movies, sexualisation doesn’t always stop once you’ve breathed your last.

‘I’m dead in bed, and the camera goes slowly down my body’ … Rosanna Arquette with Griffin Dunne in After Hours.
‘I’m dead in bed, and the camera goes slowly down my body’ … Rosanna Arquette with Griffin Dunne in After Hours. Photograph: United Archives GmbH/Alamy

“I’m dead in bed,” says Rosanna Arquette of her role in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, “and the camera goes slowly down my body. I look back on that now and go wow, what was I [thinking]? … It was just part of what you did.”

I host a feminist film podcast, and I’m also a fan of Blade Runner – which can be hard to reconcile. There’s a scene in which Harrison Ford aggressively refuses to accept Rachael turning down his advances. She eventually relents, soundtracked by Vangelis’ seductive Love Theme. This is just one of the myriad examples Menkes came across of a lack of consent being brushed off, or even glamourised. Their cumulative influence on “rape culture” is less easy to dismiss.

“Everybody knows that women tend to be objectified in advertisements and music videos,” says Menkes. Less well known is its ubiquity in the canon. “The great directors that everyone reveres. These films that many people consider to be their favourites reinforce a way of seeing women that’s detrimental to our lives.”

‘Power structures can be corrupt’ … Nina Menkes.
‘Power structures can be corrupt’ … Nina Menkes. Photograph: Ann Johansson

Talking heads analyse the effects of such imagery, from academics such as Laura Mulvey to directors including Julie Dash and Catherine Hardwicke. The absence of white, male, heterosexual speakers was accidental, says Menkes. “We were kind of shocked because it was not our plan.”

Menkes does include discussions with a mixed group of film students, one a young man who says he now realises how much movies have trained him to treat women. “It makes us think we can just have whichever one we want.” Major male directors are absent. “We reached out to a lot of the big directors whose clips we included, including Scorsese and Spike Lee,” says Menkes. “Denis Villeneuve, because we use his clips quite a few times. And we got the brush off.‘Busy, sorry’. Without trying, we ended up with a group of people who were very powerfully reinforcing the message.”

Yet Menkes also uses incriminating examples of objectification from films by female directors – from Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation to Julia Ducournau’s Titane. “Patriarchy has no gender,” says Menkes. “We’re not saying, if you have a male body, you make this kind of movie. It doesn’t break down like that.”

Menkes took suggestions for films to include from her students. One felt Magic Mike – with audiences encouraged to ogle an oiled-up Channing Tatum et al – was a good reverse example. “So I went back to check it and it supports my thesis. When men are sexualised, they are sexualised completely differently, as subjects.”

Menkes was raised in California, by Jewish parents who had fled Europe as children. “It’s in my family, this idea that power structures can be corrupt,” she says. “You don’t have to bow down to existing laws, as those laws might be corrupt.”

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8iuxFubOWBs?wmode=opaque&feature=oembed

Her mother encouraged Nina to examine her own relationship with gender. “I remember when I was 15 or something, I came home and I was like: ‘Oh, Mom, guess what? David told me that I’m the most wonderful woman in the world and he really likes me!’ And I was all excited. And she said, ‘OK, but do you think he’s the most wonderful man in the world?’ I never forgot that. It was such a shock. It was like: ‘Oh, what do I think?’”

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is in UK and Irish cinemas on 12 May. Nina Menkes is in conversation at BFI Southbank on 10 May as part of the film season Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes running 6-31 May.

Noora Niasari’s ‘Shayda’ impresses at Sundance

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting

by Jackie Keast IF Magazine January 23, 2023

‘Shayda’.

Writer-director Noora Niasari’s Shayda has been hailed by reviewers at the Sundance Film Festival as a powerful, gripping and affecting debut.

Shayda premiered over the weekend in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, with critics making special mention of the performances of lead actress Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, who won best actress at last year’s Cannes for Holy Spider, Osamah Sami, and young newcomer Selina Zahednia.

Inspired by Niasari’s own childhood, Shayda is set in 1995 and follows a young Iranian mother (Amir-Ebrahimi in the titular role) who finds refuge with her six-year-old daughter Mona (Zahednia) in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowrooz).

Aided by the strong community of women at the refuge, they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities, only to find themselves facing the violence they tried so hard to escape – namely Hossein, Shayda’s domineering and abusive husband (Sami), who seeks to be reunited with his daughter.

Vincent Sheehan produced Shayda through his new production venture Origma 45, with Dirty Films’ Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini the execuitve producers.

Writing for Screen Daily, Tim Grierson said that strong reviews, Blanchett as an EP, and the growing global awareness of the women’s rights movement in Iran “should help spark interest” in the Australian drama.

He noted a “palpable sense of dread hangs heavy over the film”, as the audience waits for the inevitable moment that Shayda’s husband will seek to separate her from her child.

“A story like this could lend itself to manipulative melodrama, but Niasari gives the material a pared-down simplicity, resisting big emotional twists or forced dramatic stakes. The muted approach only adds to the taut mood: Shayda is such a vivid presence that we keep fearing the moment when her resilient buoyancy may be destroyed by Hossein,” he wrote.

“Shayda is a tale of a woman who chooses hope over fear, which is all the more inspiring because the film shows us the many reasons why she should be afraid.”

In Variety, Tomris Laffly praised Ebrahimi’s “deceptively simple, even regal” performance, as she conveys her character’s “internalized battles through understated moments with nothing more than a delicate look or a pregnant silence.”

“Equally impressive are Zahednia as the wordlessly traumatized Mona — Niasari clearly has a special way with child actors — and Sami, a villain both blood-curdling and disturbingly familiar. The greatest asset of Shayda, however, is its unmistakably feminine spirit of perseverance, one that runs wild and free in this promising debut,” she wrote.

While conceding the film may skew towards the predictable at times, Laffly counters that this is as “the male abuser’s playbook is often predictable too”. She described Niasari’s filmmaking style as carrying “traces of a documentarian’s off-the-cuff alertness, braiding it with qualities akin to a thriller”.

“Through DP Sherwin Akbarzadeh’s fluid and immersive camera movements, the film’s opening is a perfect example of this verité-style intensity,” she wrote.

In The Hollywood Reporter, Shari Linden similarly commended the “quiet ferocity” of Amir-Ebrahimi’s performance and her chemistry with Zahednia.

“Amir Ebrahimi…. [is] quietly riveting, embodying a refusal to retreat into prescribed roles. And Sami, in what might have been a merely thankless, one-note part, makes the sanctimonious Hossein both monstrous and pathetic, overwhelmed by the threat he perceives in Shayda’s strength,” she wrote.

Linden also praised Niasari and Akbarzadeh’s collaboration, and the editing of Elika Rezaee.

“Throughout the film, Niasari and cinematographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh move the action between a realm of the secretive and fraught and one of brightness and play,” she wrote.

Shayda received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with The 51 Fund and was financed with support from VicScreen and the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund.

Executive producers from the 51 Fund, which provides financing to feature films of any genre that are directed by women, include Caitlin Gold, Lindsay Lanzillotta, Naomi McDougall Jones, Lois Scott, and Nivedita Kulkarni.

Madman is handling distribution in ANZ.

‘Shayda’: Sundance Review

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting

BY TIM GRIERSON, SENIOR US CRITIC Screen Daily 20 JANUARY 2023

In Australia, an Iranian immigrant fights for her life and her daughter in Noora Niasari’s powerful, semi-autobiographical debut

Shayda

SOURCE: SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

‘SHAYDA’

Dir/scr: Noora Niasari. Australia. 2023. 117mins

Making her feature debut, writer-director Noora Niasari has crafted a gripping drama about one Iranian woman’s struggle to extricate herself from her husband — an ordeal that could also mean losing her daughter. Named for its weary but resilient protagonist, Shayda is inspired by Niasari’s own childhood and stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi as a mother hiding out in a women’s shelter in Australia as she attempts to remake her life and process the abuse she endured in her marriage. A palpable sense of dread hangs heavy over the film, the audience bracing for the inevitable moment that her domineering husband tries to separate her from her child. 

Amir Ebrahimi gives a remarkable performance that’s a smart mixture of fiery and openhearted

Shayda premieres in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, its theatrical prospects bolstered by the presence of Amir Ebrahimi, who won Best Actress at last year’s Cannes for Holy Spider. Cate Blanchett serves as an executive producer, and strong reviews — not to mention the growing global awareness of the women’s rights movement in Iran — should help spark interest.

The story takes place in 1995, when Shayda (Amir Ebrahimi) is raising six-year-old Mona (Selina Zahednia), her loving, ebullient parenting style belying the anxiety underneath her warm smile. She has moved to Australia with her husband Hossein (Osamah Sami), but his abuse— including rape — has driven her to seek refuge in an undisclosed women’s shelter as she seeks to divorce him. But Hossein has been permitted visitation rights with Mona, and he fully intends to bring their daughter back with him to Iran.

Home movies of a young Niasari during the end credits signal the semi-autobiographical nature of the material: like Mona, the writer-director grew up in Australia after being born in Tehran. (Shayda is dedicated to “my mother and the brave women of Iran”.) And while the film isn’t quite a thriller, viewers will feel the lingering unease surrounding Shayda, who must contend with a nearly impossible set of circumstances. Refusing to let her husband know where she now lives, she grapples with the constant uncertainty of what might happen if the location of the women’s shelter is compromised. (The appearance of a mysterious car stationed outside the house is enough to make Shayda and the other residents nervous.) But there’s also Shayda’s thorny legal situation: as the bullying Hossein puts it, “You can’t stay here, get your divorce and keep the child.” Will Shayda have to choose between her freedom and Mona?

Amir Ebrahimi gives a remarkable performance that’s a smart mixture of fiery and openhearted. The film never lets us forget that although Shayda is mindful of the danger she faces from her violent husband, she isn’t willing to cower from life. After all, by rejecting customs like wearing a hijab, Shayda has already separated herself from an old existence she no longer desires. Shayda nicely balances the character’s understandable worry with a thirst to live — which includes the possibility of a new romantic relationship with sensitive, handsome Farhad (Mojean Aria), who is not aware that she is still married. 

Occasionally, Shayda meets Hossein at a mall so he can pick up Mona, and Sami is convincing as this conniving husband, who schemes to turn his daughter against Shayda while trying to determine if his wife is dating anyone. But it’s not just Hossein applying pressure on Shayda: her own mother, still living in Iran, calls to tell Shayda to forgive him, insisting that’s he a good man. In the Iranian community in which she finds herself in Australia, Shayda encounters plenty of patriarchal attitudes about marriage – a tension that will come to a head near the film’s end when Hossein confronts her in public.

A story like this could lend itself to manipulative melodrama, but Niasari gives the material a pared-down simplicity, resisting big emotional twists or forced dramatic stakes. The muted approach only adds to the taut mood: Shayda is such a vivid presence that we keep fearing the moment when her resilient buoyancy may be destroyed by Hossein. But Shayda also takes time to focus on the offhand, happy moments between her and Mona, and newcomer Zahednia is endearing without being cutesy. (The child actor is especially effective once Mona starts to grasp her father’s cruelty.) Shayda is a tale of a woman who chooses hope over fear, which is all the more inspiring because the film shows us the many reasons why she should be afraid. 

‘If I Went Back to Iran Today, I’d Be in Prison’: Why Noora Niasari’s ‘Shayda’ Is a ‘Drop in an Ocean of Change’

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting

By Manori Ravindran Variety 18 January 2023

Five years ago, Noora Niasari asked her mother to write a memoir in order to fill in the gaps of some fuzzy childhood memories. The Iranian Australian director had been just five years old when her mother fled an abusive relationship and left her entire community to raise Niasari on her own in a foreign country.

An early draft of “Shayda,” which opens the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance on Friday, was based on that memoir and tracks Niasari’s mother’s life from her arranged marriage in Iran as a teenager to finding independence in Australia with her child. The resulting film stars “Holy Spider” breakout Zar Amir-Ebrahimi as Shayda, and Selina Zahednia as her daughter, Mona.

“There are a lot of fictional elements within the current version of the film, but it’s very much grounded in the emotional truth of our experience,” the Melbourne-based Niasari tells Variety.

Backed by Screen Australia and produced by Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films, “Shayda” is the helmer’s first feature film and follows a number of acclaimed shorts, including “Tâm,” “17 Years and a Day” and “Simorgh.” The director says she had to work up to “Shayda,” both technically as an artist, and emotionally as a daughter who’s still processing her past trauma.

That pain, however, would only deepen in the fall when, as “Shayda” was being edited, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in Iran, after having been arrested by Tehran’s morality police for wearing a hijab “improperly.”

Noora Niasari (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)Keiran Watson-Bonnice

Amini’s death sparked a revolution in Iran, now coined the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which has seen women forgoing their hijabs in public, and even destroying them in protest, only to be faced with violent and sometime deadly rebukes from the regime. More than 500 people have so far died as part of the street protests, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Niasari hopes that “Shayda” — one of three films from directors of Iranian descent that are playing at Sundance (the others are “The Persian Version” and “Joonam”) — will be a “drop in an ocean of change.” While any sort of demonstration hasn’t yet been planned for Park City, the director says industry panels will address the situation and its impact on human rights as well as filmmaking.

“I don’t see it as something that’s going to be creating a monumental shift — I’m really realistic about the situation — I just hope that it’s a way to amplify and support what’s happening in Iran.”

Read on for Niasari’s full interview.

You’ve made a number of shorts ahead of this feature. Why was this the right moment to make this film?

I didn’t feel ready. I felt we were making the shorts, documentaries, traveling, working, being in writers rooms, doing directors attachments. All of these things were stepping stones to make my feature. And at the same time, I needed to process some things in my personal life in order to be ready to make this film, because it was very challenging, emotionally and psychologically. I don’t know if I would have had the ability to do it any sooner.

When exactly did you shoot?

In July and August of 2022.

Oh, wow. So you had seen Zar in “Holy Spider” then?

Well, actually, I hadn’t. I saw the film before filming, but when I cast Zar, it was before Cannes. It was in February 2022. I was introduced to her as a potential candidate for Shayda. We searched far and wide, and I’m very grateful that I met Zar because, as soon as I saw her first audition, I just knew she epitomized the character. The duality of her vulnerability and strength really blew me away and I knew that she was Shayda.

When did Cate Blanchett and her production company come on board?

They became involved toward the end of this development stage, just before we went to market with the script. One of the producers sent the script to [Blanchett] because he’d worked on a film called “Little Fish” with her some years ago. They read the script and loved it, and then we had a Zoom meeting. They were champions of the project from then on. It’s wonderful to have her in my corner.

This is such a personal story. What did you find the most challenging in terms of the shoot?

Anything that involves the father character, Hossein, was particularly challenging. At the same time, the actor that I cast [Osamah Sami] has been a good friend for 10 years. We both live in Melbourne, and I have a lot of respect for him. He’s also very funny guy who does a lot of stand-up comedy. He has a charisma, presence, humor and lightness that I loved, and it just allowed his character to have this other side that the audience could access. He’s not just a black and white character. As an actor, he made me laugh every time I was on set, which really helped with what I was going through.

There must have been some crossover, too, between your edit on the film and the revolution in Iran, right?

The first couple of weeks of the edit is around the time when Mahsa Amini was detained and murdered by the regime. It was very difficult for my editor [who is Iranian American] and me to concentrate because we were following the news every night, not sleeping, stressed out, trying to call family and not getting through. But at the same time, we found a new motivation to finish it, to make it the best we could because Shayda’s fight is also a fight for freedom and independence, and breaking away from these cultural norms and laws that restrict her from living a life on her own terms. It gave me a renewed motivation to finish the film, because I had a depressive episode after finishing the shoot where I found it very difficult to be productive due to the emotional toll of the filming process. I needed one or two weeks off. I’d cry a lot and process, but my editor was so beautiful in creating a safe space and creating a light energy. When the revolution started in Iran, we were very unified by this situation, and we felt helpless. But in finishing the film, we found a renewed purpose.

When it’s so easy for people to turn off the news and block out what’s going on, how do you think films like yours can change perceptions of these world events? Could there be a change in the collective consciousness and how we discuss what’s happening in Iran?

In the instance of what’s happening in Iran, and the kinds of films that we’re making, it’s important to highlight a subjective, intimate experience — a personal one. One that takes you into the journey of a character, what they’re going through on a day to day basis. Because obviously with headlines and in Instagram posts, you only get a glimpse of something. My main hope for “Shayda” is that it’s a drop in this ocean of change. I don’t see it as something that’s going to be creating a monumental shift. I’m really realistic about the situation. I just hope that it’s a way to amplify and support what’s happening in Iran. I don’t think it can be more than that, but at the same time, I think that’s valuable and I’m very grateful to be able to contribute in that way.

How do you feel about the film likely being prohibited from screening in Iran?

I’ve never thought that that was very realistic. The film is not political, per se. It’s about social issues and women’s rights and women seeking freedom in the West, so I’ve never really had a hope that it would screen in Iran. One of my actors, when the revolution was happening, said, “How amazing would it be if we were able to go back one day and actually screen the film?” And that was really the first time that I had a little vision about it. It was very beautiful. But no, I’ve never had a hope that I would screen there, just because I know about all the censorship in Iran. If I was to go back today, I think I’d be in prison. I don’t think I would be allowed to leave the country because of the film and the people that I made the film with.

“Shayda” has its world premiere in Park City on Jan. 20, with additional screenings from Jan. 21-27.

Cecil Holmes Award Speech by Samantha Lang – ADG Awards 8 December 2022

Directing, Diversity, Latest News
I acknowledge that we meet here today on the Wangal land of the Eora nation – and pay my respects to elders past and present and all First nation people here today. I recognise that their sovereignty was never ceded.
I’m sincerely grateful to Rowan Woods and to the Australian Directors’ Guild. So it is going to be hard to adequately put into words what receiving the Cecil Holmes award, and from a cherished peer and community, means to me.  I want to give it a go by framing it through the prism of what it means to be Australian and what it means to be a filmmaker – and how the two intersect in meaningful ways.I am a migrant to this country from the UK. My partner, Andrew is also a migrant or refugee, from Myanmar. The father of my children is European and the mother of Andrew’s children is a Butchulla women from K,gari or Fraser Island – Our blended family is a complex amalgam of skin colour and cultures.  So the only way it functions – when it does – is that everyone has a voice, and is encouraged to express it, even when opinions differ. And they do – often and vociferously. In a reductive way, perhaps, this is how I think about what it means to be Australian –  to live in a complicated place, with some painful histories, ample contradictions and uncomfortable intersections. To thrive in it – requires a curiosity about others and involves a responsibility to get comfortable with that which may not be familiar. To be Australian and live in Australia requires a capacity for re-imagining what community, family and identity might look like.  Acquiring a sense of belonging in Australia demands that we consider what we want to belong to.To be a filmmaker also requires a curiosity about others, implies a responsibility to consider that which is unfamiliar and insists upon an infinite capacity for re-imagining. It also carries with it the individual and social privilege of telling one’s story – of being given a voice. The privilege I refer to – is contingent upon having support to sustain that voice.From a relatively young age – because of the ecologies of care, kindness and patience that I encountered in Australia – I was supported to become a filmmaker – public high school, public healthcare, including mental health, publicly funded university and film school. When I became a filmmaker I was supported by government funded film finance policies and, significantly, I was welcomed into the ‘non-profit’ community of film and television directors known as the Australian Directors Guild.If it had not been for the founding film directors, amongst them, Gillian Armstrong, Phil Noyce and Stephen Wallace, and their establishment of a guild and, then later, directors Graham Thorburn, Donald Crombie, Ray Argall further nourishing  a community of directors I would not have had something to belong to… My identity as a filmmaker would have not meant as much because it would not be connected to a history of filmmakers sustaining each other as they interrogate the stories that need to be told about the place in which they live. The other communities I have belonged to, are those of producers, amongst them John Maynard, Bridget Ikin and Sandra Levy. And then of course, as a student at AFTRS, Rowan Woods, Robert Connolly, Dan Nettheim, Tony McNamara – quite a lot of men actually…nonetheless…Cecil Holmes understood that to interrogate what it is to be Australian, as a filmmaker, required not only that he compose his own narratives, but that he support other filmmakers to create multiple perspectives on what it meant to them to live in Australia. He understood that there is an intrinsic responsibility that accompanies the privilege of having a voice – and that is to create space for other voices to co-exist and create – to give light to the multiplicity of stories – that make up our national identity.
My great privilege and small contribution has been to participate in the ecology of care that is the Australian Directors’ Guild and to take part in sustaining our wonderful, brilliant, contradictory, diverse, eclectic community of filmmakers. This community has been evidenced recently in the work of Ana Tiwary at the guild – with her program of forty directors. She brings to light – just how complex and diverse Australian directors are. And this diversity has been supported by all of the guilds Executive directors over the last decade – Richard Harris, Kingston Anderson, Diana Burnett, Alaric McAusland and the many directors who have given their time freely to participate on the board.
When Ana posted a few days ago an NYT article about Freudenfreude – I thought to myself this is what the guild and the Cecil Holmes Award is all about… The definition of Freuden freude being … Finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune, Viewing individual success as a communal effort. Showing active interest in someone else’s happiness. Sharing credit for your successes with others. Turning oneself into a spectator of other’s joy.
It’s what at its best, a family can be, a community can be, and being part of a national identity can be…
It is also what the current campaign to parliament for filmmakers has been about….Making it Australian.

2022 is the rom-com revival and this is why we’re here for it

Diversity, Film, Screenwriting

The experts weigh in on why, in 2022, we love a rom-com more than ever.
By Shona Hendley, Harper’s Bazaar August 2022

FATHER OF THE BRIDE ROM-COM
Father of the Bride | HBO

IF YOU READ that this was the ‘year of the rom-com,’ you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d hopped in a time machine and travelled back to the 90s.

But alongside the claw clip, bucket hats and denim overalls, all that fashionable from 30 years ago is cool again, including romantic comedies.

With films like The Lost City, Ticket to Paradise, Marry Me, Shotgun Wedding, Fire Island and even a modern remake of Father of the Bride, there is no shortage of rom-coms making it to the silver screen or to streaming platforms this year.

So, what’s behind this rise in popularity? It has a lot to do with the intrinsic feel-good nature of the genre at a time when audiences are needing it says writer and director Mark Poole.

“Especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, audience have been interested in ‘feel-good’ films.”

Ticket to Paradise | UNIVERSAL

While we are still bingeing on true crime and horror — with the likes of Servant, All of Us Are Dead, The Girl from Plainville and The Staircase dominating downloads, the balance is offered and taken up with rom coms such as Bridgerton and Uncoupled proving just as popular by streaming audiences.

But as well as offering a welcome reprieve from the ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic, the uplifting mood and comedic factor generated from rom coms offer both a physical and psychological benefit to the audience says relationship therapist and director of Love Therapy Australia, Lauren Bradley.

“Viewing something positive and enjoyable can boost dopamine levels … Laughter sends a powerful message to our body and brain to relax, through lowering blood pressure, increasing endorphins and decreasing stress hormones.”

They also provide a sense of comfort.

Fire Island | JEONG PARK

 “Rom coms reassure an audience that the world remains the same, that the boy will always get the girl (or vice versa) and that a dream wedding is the solution to everyone’s problems. In an uncertain world, audiences seeking certainty can watch a rom com and know that the movie will end on a high note,” says Poole.

And this offers a sense of safety, stability and familiarity which can be comforting and reassuring, especially when our real life isn’t this way believes Bradley.

 “Feel-good shows take us back to a time when things were simple and positive, with clean, happy-ending plot lines, and rounded resolution, often exactly what’s missing in our real life.”

LAUGHTER sends a POWERFUL message to our BODY and brain to RELAX

Like pop superstar Kat (Jennifer Lopez) and school teacher Charlie (Owen Wilson) overcoming enormous differences in their careers and lifestyles to find their happy ending in Marry Me.

And while rom coms definitely offer their audience a reliable, happy ending, modern films and tv shows in this genre are also often heavily reliant on nostalgia and this, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Sydney, Bruce Isaacs says can’t be underestimated.

“Nostalgia is one of the strongest impulses we’ve got, and modern rom coms are tapping into this.”

The return of rom com royalty, the actors who starred in 90s rom com blockbusters are just one way the genre is giving a big nod to this.https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ebv9_rNb5Ig

Because alongside the return of Sandra Bullock in The Lost City, JLo in Marry Me and Shotgun Wedding, is none other than Rom Com Queen, Julia Roberts who is starring with George Clooney in a Ticket to Paradise — hello 90s romantic comedy vibes! 

“For many people born in the 90s and 2000s echoing back to old favourites takes us back to childhood, which for the fortunate and privileged, was a time of ease and carefree freedom.

We may gravitate toward shows that draw from positive experiences and memories, seeking to replicate that feeling in our lives,” says Bradley.

And while nostalgia is in demand, Poole says that modern rom coms are also becoming more inclusive, another element that the audience is responding to.

NOSTALGIA is one of the strongest IMPULSES we’ve got

“There is an increased demand for movies with a number of strong females in the lead roles. Bridesmaids (2011) arguably began this trend which reflected the increasing power and status of women in the current political, business and domestic environment,” he says.

There are also more examples of rom coms representing different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and the class system, which had often been overlooked in earlier rom coms.

Wedding season | KEN WORONER / NETFLIX

“More recent rom-coms often feature at least one lead character from a non-white background. A contemporary example is Netflix’s Wedding Season (2022), a rom-com set in the context of Indian families living in New York,” Poole says.

While the rom com of the 90s may have had its moment, the rom com of 2022 is definitely here and is firmly in the spotlight.

NOORA NIASARI’S FEATURE FILM DEBUT SHAYDA ANNOUNCED

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting

Sceen Australia May 2022

Image

Writer/director Noora Niasari (Photo credit: Sherwin Akbarzadeh)

From a unique and authentic voice comes the highly anticipated feature debut Shayda, by writer and director Noora Niasari, starring Iranian actress Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Tehran Taboo, Morgen sind wir frei) with major production investment from Screen Australia.

Melbourne-based Niasari is well known for her award-winning short films including Waterfall which screened at the 66th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) where it was nominated for best short film, Tâm and feature documentary Casa Antúnez. HanWay Films has come on board to handle international sales and distribution, UTA Independent Film Group is representing the U.S. sale.

Shayda is produced by Vincent Sheehan (The Hunter, Jasper Jones, Animal Kingdom, Lore) through his new production venture Origma 45. Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini at Dirty Films (Apples, Carol, Little Fish) are executive producers. Shayda received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with The 51 Fund and financed with support from VicScreen and the MIFF Premiere Fund, while local distribution in Australia and New Zealand will be handled by Madman Entertainment. The 51 Fund (Cusp and the upcoming Shari & Lamb Chop) provides financing to feature films of any genre that are directed by women, with the goal of providing support to the most exciting female voices within the creative industry. Caitlin Gold, Lindsay Lanzillotta, Naomi McDougall Jones, Lois Scott, and Nivedita Kulkarni also serve as executive producers on behalf of 51. 

Heads of production will include Cinematographer and Niasari’s closest collaborator Sherwin Akbarzadeh (Stories From Oz). Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson), Mojean Aria (The Enforcer), Jillian Nguyen (Expired) and Rina Mousavi (Alexander) will star alongside Amir-Ebrahimi. Production will commence on 11 July in Australia.

A young Iranian mother (Amir-Ebrahimi) and her six-year-old daughter find refuge in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowrooz) which is celebrated as a time of renewal and re-birth. Aided by the strong community of women at the refuge they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities, only to find themselves facing the violence they tried so hard to escape.

Vincent Sheehan commented, “Shayda is a powerful, timely and important story to be telling and Noora’s unique Iranian/Australian voice as a director will be a potent combination. I am thrilled to be working with such a quality stable of producers and market partners with a shared passion and commitment to backing Noora and her story.”

Screen Australia’s Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, “Rising talent Noora Niasari has created a well-crafted script, vibrant characters and an authentic world and Screen Australia is delighted to support her debut feature through development and into production. Shayda offers a unique perspective on a story with universal themes of survival and the cost of freedom.”

Dirty Films also noted, “We first encountered Noora’s talent watching her short films, The Phoenix and Tâm. We were blown away by her precise, emotionally-driven filmmaking and her capacity to draw out gripping performances. We are excited to be working alongside Vincent again to help Noora fulfil her bold and distinct vision for Shayda.”

HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart said, “We are delighted to be part of an incredible team supporting Noora Niasari’s feature debut. Noora has written a beautiful piece that reflects much of her own experience of moving to Australia as a child. There is an intimacy to her storytelling that brings to life what it is to honour the traditions of the culture you have left behind as a mother raising her young child, whilst together bravely embracing a whole new one.”

NOORA NIASARI’S FEATURE FILM DEBUT SHAYDA ANNOUNCED

Directing, Diversity, Film, Latest News, Screenwriting
Image

Writer/director Noora Niasari (Photo credit: Sherwin Akbarzadeh)

From a unique and authentic voice comes the highly anticipated feature debut Shayda, by writer and director Noora Niasari, starring Iranian actress Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Tehran Taboo, Morgen sind wir frei) with major production investment from Screen Australia.

Melbourne-based Niasari is well known for her award-winning short films including Waterfall which screened at the 66th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) where it was nominated for best short film, Tâm and feature documentary Casa Antúnez. HanWay Films has come on board to handle international sales and distribution, UTA Independent Film Group is representing the U.S. sale.

Shayda is produced by Vincent Sheehan (The Hunter, Jasper Jones, Animal Kingdom, Lore) through his new production venture Origma 45. Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini at Dirty Films (Apples, Carol, Little Fish) are executive producers. Shayda received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with The 51 Fund and financed with support from VicScreen and the MIFF Premiere Fund, while local distribution in Australia and New Zealand will be handled by Madman Entertainment. The 51 Fund (Cusp and the upcoming Shari & Lamb Chop) provides financing to feature films of any genre that are directed by women, with the goal of providing support to the most exciting female voices within the creative industry. Caitlin Gold, Lindsay Lanzillotta, Naomi McDougall Jones, Lois Scott, and Nivedita Kulkarni also serve as executive producers on behalf of 51. 

Heads of production will include Cinematographer and Niasari’s closest collaborator Sherwin Akbarzadeh (Stories From Oz). Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson), Mojean Aria (The Enforcer), Jillian Nguyen (Expired) and Rina Mousavi (Alexander) will star alongside Amir-Ebrahimi. Production will commence on 11 July in Australia.

A young Iranian mother (Amir-Ebrahimi) and her six-year-old daughter find refuge in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowrooz) which is celebrated as a time of renewal and re-birth. Aided by the strong community of women at the refuge they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities, only to find themselves facing the violence they tried so hard to escape.

Vincent Sheehan commented, “Shayda is a powerful, timely and important story to be telling and Noora’s unique Iranian/Australian voice as a director will be a potent combination. I am thrilled to be working with such a quality stable of producers and market partners with a shared passion and commitment to backing Noora and her story.”

Screen Australia’s Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, “Rising talent Noora Niasari has created a well-crafted script, vibrant characters and an authentic world and Screen Australia is delighted to support her debut feature through development and into production. Shayda offers a unique perspective on a story with universal themes of survival and the cost of freedom.”

Dirty Films also noted, “We first encountered Noora’s talent watching her short films, The Phoenix and Tâm. We were blown away by her precise, emotionally-driven filmmaking and her capacity to draw out gripping performances. We are excited to be working alongside Vincent again to help Noora fulfil her bold and distinct vision for Shayda.”

HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart said, “We are delighted to be part of an incredible team supporting Noora Niasari’s feature debut. Noora has written a beautiful piece that reflects much of her own experience of moving to Australia as a child. There is an intimacy to her storytelling that brings to life what it is to honour the traditions of the culture you have left behind as a mother raising her young child, whilst together bravely embracing a whole new one.”

Screen Australia launches initiative for female directors, cinematographers and composers

Directing, Diversity, Latest News

by Jackie Keast IF magazine March 8, 2022

As part of its ongoing Gender Matters initiative, Screen Australia has launched a new program to see female directors, cinematographers and composers attain ‘career-defining’ credits.

Titled Credit Maker, the program will be delivered by the Australian Directors Guild (ADG), Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC).

Up to 12 female practitioners (four from each discipline) will be supported to shadow an established practitioner on a scripted project in production.

The initiative aims to to accelerate career pathways while also bringing about change in heads of department representation.

“We know that female heads of department are under-represented in roles in scripted projects due to credit requirements and career access and progression opportunities,” said Screen Australia head of development Louise Gough.

“Screen Australia is committed to helping increase the representation of women across all areas of our industry and fostering an equitable sector. We are proud to support the guilds to deliver the program and provide these opportunities within the production sector for women to gain credits at the calibre that will allow them to secure their next role.”

When Screen Australia launched its Gender Matters program back in 2015, the focus was on getting gender parity among key creatives – writers, directors and producers – and female protagonists on screen.

However, it has been long identified that gender parity issues also exist below-the-line, particularly in cinematography and composing.

For instance, just 18 of the 437 accredited members of the ACS are women. The ACS acknowledges the number of women in cinematography is low, and has worked hard over the last decade to boost the rates of women in the profession, including forming the ACS Women’s Advisory Panel.

Similarly, a 2017 RMIT research study commissioned by APRA AMCOS found only 13 per cent of working screen composers in Australia identify as women, something the AGSC has been working to rectify via its Gender Equity Committee.

Female composers and cinematographers have also pushed Screen Australia to consider these roles within their Gender Matter KPIs.

“There is still a long way to go for gender parity in heads of department roles,” said head of the Gender Matters taskforce, producer Joanna Werner.

“Credit Maker aims to improve this, building on the success of the ADG’s Shadow Directing program supported through Screen Australia’s Gender Matters: Brilliant Careers funding scheme which helped 12 women gain credits in directing.

“Credit Maker is an exciting beginning, and we hope that this initiative brings real impact and change. The Gender Matters Taskforce will continue to work strategically to plan for other under-served areas of female representation in the sector.”

In a statement, the ACS described the Credit Maker program was a “dream come true”, noting it would be career and life-changing for woman DOPs.

“Data has long shown the loss and attrition of talented female cinematographers who did not make it through to shoot high level productions was because they did not get the opportunity. 

“The ACS recently commissioned a world-first survey specifically of the Australian camera workforce, which will soon be launched and the results continue to highlight the shocking paucity of women’s participation and engagement as cinematographers across the Australian film and television industry. The impact of the Credit Maker scheme on the careers of female cinematographers will last for generations to come.”

Similarly, the AGSC said the Credit Maker program marked the potential for a “fundamental shift” in the careers of mid-tier female composers.

“The Gender Equity Committee has done ground-breaking work in the analysis of and support for female screen composers and the Credit Maker program will provide a credit that will be recognised throughout the industry and will have ongoing significance,” it said.

In terms of directors, industry-wide research conducted by Screen Australia suggests improvements in women’s participation rates in recent years have been slow to change, despite significant push by the agency and other bodies.

From 2015-16 through 2018-19, only 18 per cent of all Australian features were directed by women. Television however, was a slightly brighter picture, with 33 per cent of directors female, and in documentary, the rate was 37 per cent.

For projects that received Screen Australia production funding over the same period, rates were much higher – 50 per cent of directors were women on features, 51 per cent on TV projects, and 37 per cent in documentary.

ADG senior development manager Belinda Button said: “Having seen first-hand the career-changing opportunities provided to 12 female directors participating in the predecessor program DirectOne, the ADG are now thrilled to be involved in Credit Maker also.

“We commend Screen Australia on this critical Gender Matters initiative. With our guild colleagues, we look forward to helping more women realise success in HOD roles across the screen industry.”

To apply for Credit Maker, register your interest with the relevant guild via their website.