Zar Amir Ebrahimi (with Selina Zahednia) stars as a mother taking refuge from her abusive husband
JANE ZHANG, GETTY, VERTIGO RELEASING
When Noora Niasari was five, she was living in a women’s shelter in Australia with her Iranian mother, a traumatic experience that she’s now turned into her powerful debut feature, Shayda. ‘It was just one of those experiences that really shaped me,’ she says. ‘And I knew that I wanted to see this story come to life, from an authentic, truthful place. I felt that I was the only person to do that, given my lived experience.’
Niasari gained help from her mother, who spent six months writing a memoir of their time in the shelter. ‘I mean, it was incredibly cathartic for both of us, that six-month journalling process. I discovered so much about her and our story that I didn’t know.’ Over three years, she then wrote a story about a mother of one, Shayda, who escapes from her violent Iranian husband Hossein.