"Heiran" (Heiraan)
Director: Shalizeh Arefpour
Scriptwriters: Shalizeh Arefpour, Naghmeh Samini
Director of Photography: Hossein Jafarian
Editor: Sepideh Abdolvahab
Costume and Set Designer: Amir Esbati
Makeup: Mehrdad Mirkiani
Music: Alireza Kohan Deyri
Sound Recorder: Sasan Nakhaei
Sound Mix: Hossein Maafi
Assistant Director: Behrouz Shoeibi
Executive Producer: Nava Rohani
Director Adviser: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
Investors: ENBANK, Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC)
Producer: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Jahangir Kosari
Production of: Cinema 79 Co.
Cast: Baran Kosari, Mehrdad Sedighian, Khosro Shakibaei, Farhad Aslani, Zhaleh Sameti, Fouzhan Arefpour, Mohsen Mokari
Color, 35 mm, 1:1/85, 88min, 2009, Iran
During the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan about 3 million Afghans, who were mostly illegal immigrants, entered Iran; causing numerous problems for the Iranian society to accept them.
This film is the story of a 17 year old rural girl by the name of Mahi, who comes from a war-stricken family in the southern Iran. Mahi falls in love with an Afghan student named Hairan, who has come to their village to work. But Mahi's family being strictly against her marriage to an Afghan, forces Mahi to choose one between her family and an Afghan lad.
BIOGRAPHY AND FILMOGRAPHY:
Shalizeh Arefpour was born in Tehran in 1970. She is a cinema graduate from the Filmmaking Training Center.
In 1990 she started her cinematic career as a script girl and ever since she has cooperated with many famous cinema and TV filmmakers in 26 movies as programmer, assistant director, scriptwriter and editor. She experienced her first filmmaking in the short film called “The Shadow of Moon” in 2004. She then made 3 documentaries “Under the Skin of Baran” in 2001, “Goal in the Dark” in 2003 and “Inside Me” in 2004. “Heiran” is her first feature film for which she is also the scriptwriter.
FESTIVALS
- Toronto Int’l Film Festival (10 – 19 Sep 2009/ Canada)
Contemporary World Cinema - Tunis Int’l Film Festival (23 – 27 Sep 2009/ Tunis)
Winner of the Best Film in Competition Section (Best Picture) - Hamburg Int'l Film Festival (24 Sep – 3 Oct 2009/ Germany)
Competition (For First Feature Award) - Arab – Iran Filmdays (9 – 15 Oct 2009/ Germany)
- Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (15 – 30 Oct 2009/ Hong Kong)
Competition (New Talent Award) - Gene Siskel Film Center (17 – 18 Oct 2009/ USA)
- Sao Paulo Int’l Film Festival (23 Oct – 5 Nov 2009/ Brazil)
New Filmmaker Competition - Cinema Tous Ecrans (2 – 8 Nov 2009/ Switzerland)
Regards d’Aujourd’hui Competition - Denver Film Festival (12 – 22 Nov 2009/ USA)
- Stockholm Int’l Film Festival (18 – 29 Nov 2009/ Sweden)
- Tertio Millennio Film Festival (1 – 6 Dec 2009/ Italy)
- Dubai Int’l Film Festival (9 – 16 Dec 2009/ UAE)
Competition (Muhr Asia Africa Awards) - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (15 Jan 2010/ USA)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (23 Jan 2010/ USA)
- UCLA Film & Television Archive (5 Feb 2010/ USA)
- Portland Int’l Film Festival (11 – 27 Feb 2010/ USA)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Washington DC (19 – 21 Feb 2010/ USA)
- Cine Quest Int’l Film Festival (23 Feb – 7 March 2010/ USA)
- Chennai Women’s Film Festival (1 – 8 March 2010/ India)
- Sguardi Altrove Film Festival (8 – 14 March 2010/ Italy)
Winner of the International Feature Film Award - Tiburon Int’l Film Festival (18 – 26 March 2010/ USA)
Competition - Walker Art Center (25 April 2010/ USA)
- Minneapolis/St. Paul Int’l Film Festival (15 – 29 April 2010/ USA)
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Durban Int’l Film Festival (22 July – 1 Aug 2010/ South Africa)