A quartet of Australian films has made it into the line-up for next year's Sundance Film Festival, with Robert Connolly's 'Blueback', Noora Niasari's 'Shayda', Daina Reid's 'Run Rabbit Run' and Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou's 'Talk To Me' all set to screen.
Noora Niasari talks to IF about the making of her debut feature, the Sundance Audience Award-winning 'Shayda', which is screening in competition at MIFF and will close Locarno later this month.
When Tehran-born writer-director Noora Niasari told producer Vincent Sheehan about the time she spent living in a women's shelter during her childhood, on which her film 'Shayda' was to be based, he realised he was being told a "distinctly Australian" story, but one he had never seen on the screen before.
Ivan Sen's 'Limbo' and Noora Niasari's 'Shayda' have joined the Australian contingent bound for this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), announced as part of the event's centrepiece program.
Noora Niasari’s 'Shayda' follows a young Iranian mother (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.
Noora Niasari's debut feature 'Shayda' took home the Audience Award in Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Dramatic Competition over the weekend.
An award-winning Sundance selection and a documentary portrait of an Australian music icon will screen as gala films at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival.
Noora Niasari has earned yet another accolade for her debut feature 'Shayda', taking home the top prize at Tuesday evening's Australian Directors' Guild Awards.