Noora Niasari’s Shayda may soon get another chance to represent Australia on the world stage, after being submitted for the Best International Feature category at next year’s Academy Awards.
Written and directed by Niasari, the story follows a young Iranian mother (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) who finds refuge with her six-year-old daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia) in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowrooz) in 1995.
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 (Osamah Sami), who seeks to be reunited with his daughter.
Shayda was produced by Vincent Sheehan through Origma 45, with Dirty Films’ Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini serving as executive producers.
Since premiering at Sundance in January, the film opened Melbourne International Film Festival this month, where it screened as part of the $140,000 Bright Horizons competition, before closing Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. It is in the midst of competing for the $100,000 CinefestOz prize in WA, and has also been announced as part of the Centrepiece program for the Toronto International Film Festival.
Shayda follows in the footsteps of Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone, and Granaz Moussavi’s When Pomegranates Howl in being submitted for the awards, with a committee of Australian industry professionals convened by Screen Australia tasked with making the selection.
In comments published on Deadline, a spokesman for the committee said there was “no hesitation” in putting the drama forward, with members describing it as “beautiful, timely, masterfully directed and a film that stays with you long after the closing credits.”
Madman will release Shayda into cinemas September 28, while Sony Pictures Classics will launch it in North America, Latin America, Benelux, Eastern Europe, Portugal, the Middle East, and Turkey.