Now in its 11th edition, the festival continues to be a key platform for Persian filmmakers to share their narratives and express their creativity, engaging Australian audiences with the richness and diversity of Persian-speaking cultures.
Running from 24 April to 11 May, the festival will travel across Sydney, Melbourne, and Armidale, with each city offering a showcase of feature, short, and documentary films. The 2025 edition promises to feature fearless filmmakers who defy the odds to bring their daring stories to the screen, offering audiences a raw glimpse into the boldest, most groundbreaking works.
This year’s program kicks off with a stellar opening night featuring In the Shadow of Cypress, an Oscar-winning animated short by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi and, Tatami, a compelling drama directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv. These films perfectly represent the festival’s ethos, presenting powerful and bold narratives that signify freedom of expression and the shared universal human experiences. Tatami, with its gripping portrayal of a judo athlete caught between national loyalties and personal integrity, and In the Shadow of Cypress, with its deep exploration of trauma and healing, set the tone for the exciting and thought-provoking program ahead.
What sets this year’s festival apart is its bold selection of films. These are works created by filmmakers who have defied personal and professional peril to share stories that challenge the status quo, offering Australian audiences an exclusive opportunity to experience cinema that pushes past the boundaries of censorship.
This is a testament to the power of cinema as a vehicle for freedom of expression, highlighting the importance of artistic platforms that allow for open dialogue and exchange.
Amin Palangi, the festival director, emphasises the enduring power of Persian cinema: “Persian cinema is a dynamic, powerful force that transcends boundaries. This characteristic has not emerged only recently; it has been evident in the contemporary wave of Persian cinema over the past 50 years.”
He adds, “In this year’s program, we are thrilled to bring together a range of filmmakers whose work pushes the envelope of storytelling. We’re excited to bring these stories to Australian audiences and continue our mission of bridging cultures through cinema.
”The festival program also includes panel discussions, Q&A’s with filmmakers and will conclude with Closing Nights and Awards Ceremony in Sydney and Melbourne. The evening will feature the presentation of the Golden Gazelle Awards, recognizing excellence in feature and short films.
Feature Films
Endless Borders (by Abas Amini)
Ahmad is an exiled teacher living in a small poor village with mostly ethnic Baloch along the Iranian border with Afghanistan. He acquaints a family of illegal Hazara refugees who are fleeing an immediate threat from the Taliban’s rise to power. Soon after Ahmad begins to realise that prejudice and dogma are dictating all of their lives and his perspective on what is right and what is wrong changes drastically. He decides to save a young forbidden love but that decision can have dire consequences for everyone.
2023 Winner – Big Screen Award – International Film Festival Rotterdam
2023 Winner – Best Film – International Film Festival of India
2023 Winner – Best Feature Film – Tirana International Film Festival, AL
The Witness (by Nader Saeivar)
After seeing his husband, a government official commit murder, retired dance instructor Tarlan faces a choice: stay quiet under political pressure or risk everything to expose the truth. Written by Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar, The Witness is a taut political thriller. It examines the cost of integrity in a society that manipulates reality and punishes dissent.
2024 Winner – Audience Award – Venice Film Festival
2025 Winner – Best Film – Vesoul Asian Film Festival
Terrestrial Verses (by Alireza Khatami & Ali Asghari)
Terrestrial Verses follows everyday people from all walks of life as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These stirring vignettes, humorous and affecting, capture the spirit and determination of people amidst adversity, offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society.
2024 Winner – Grand Prix – Luxembourg City Film Festival
2023 Winner – Best Film – CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Film and Audience Award – Philosophical Film Award
2023 Nominee – Best Film (Audience award) – Zurich Film Festival
Cause of Death Unknown (by Ali Zarnegar) WATCH TRAILER | TICKETS
A van with seven passengers journeys through the barren Lut Desert when a grim situation unfolds: one of their fellow travelers has died. With no access to a medical professional to issue an official death certificate, emergency services refuse to send an ambulance. As darkness falls, the chance of locating a doctor becomes increasingly remote. Left with few options, the group debates driving to the nearest police patrol for assistance. But before they can act, they search the deceased’s belongings for identification or contact details, uncovering a startling discovery that intensifies their crisis.
2024 Winner – Best Film – Torino Underground Cinefest
2023 Winner – Best Cinematographer – Shanghai International Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Feature Film – Iranian Film Festival Zurich
Roxana (by Parviz Shahbazi)
Fred is unemployed and just gambling. He lives with his sick mother. He meets Roxana who is filming the wedding ceremonies and then he becomes her assistant. In their first work trip to north of Iran, Roxana get involved in a serious problem but Fred somehow helps and saves her, however, there are some more serious problems that Fred will have nothing to do with.
2023 Winner – Best Male Actor – Tokyo International Film Festival
2023 Nominee – Best Feature Film – Tokyo International Film Festival
Tatami (by Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi)
Iranian female judokas Leila (Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Amir), travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold. Tatami is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker.
2023 Winner – Brian Award – Venice Film Festival
2024 Winner – Fritz Gerlich Prize – Munich Film Festival
2023 Winner – Best Actress Award – Tokyo International Film Festival
2023 Winner – Special Jury Prize – Tokyo International Film Festival
2023 Winner – Tokyo Grand Prix – Tokyo International Film Festival
Googoosh, Made of Fire (by Niloufar Taghizadeh)
The singer and actress Googoosh has been an iconic pioneer of Iranian pop culture for over 50 years. Her father, an acrobat and artist, already put her on stage at the age of two and she quickly became a child star. Googoosh’s singing inspired Iranian composers to create a new style of pop music, mixing Persian poetry with blues, jazz, Latin, rock and disco music. Her chansons became international hits, and she was a cult figure on the Iranian pop scene in the 1970s. Under the religious regime of Khomeini, Googoosh’s career then came to an abrupt halt in the 1980s when she was put under house arrest and banned from performing. This documentary tells of her eventful life and her astonishing international comeback in 2000. When the young girl Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian vice squad in September 2022, Googoosh demonstrated public solidarity with the struggle of the young generation of Iranians rebelling against the regime. She is today a symbol of hope and resistance, her life a testimony to the Iranian struggle for freedom and humanity.
2025 Nominee – Best Documentary – Miami Film Festival
My Favourite Cake (by Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha)
Mahin (70) lives alone in Tehran since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life. But as Mahin opens herself up to new romance, what begins as an unexpected encounter quickly evolves into an unpredictable, unforgettable evening.
2024 Winner – Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Winner – FIPRESCI Prize – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Nominee – Best Film – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Feature Film – Calgary International Film Festival
The Great Yawn of History (by Aliyar Raasti)
Beitollah is a religious man who has been dreaming about a box of gold coins appearing at the end of a cave. He believes these coins are a miracle and wants to find them. But since he does not consider the coins to be halal, he wants to find a non-religious assistant to accompany him on the search. With the help of a job advertisement printed on the back of counterfeit dollar bills that Beitollah distributes on the streets of Tehran, he recruits the young Shoja and the two set off together to search for the coins. They discover several caves in the north of Iran but none is the right one. They move on to the central deserts of Iran and spend the night at a Caravanserai roadside inn. The inn’s owner suspects that the two might be looking for treasure and decides to follow them on his motorcycle.
2024 Winner – Special Jury Award – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Nominee – GWFF Best First Feature – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Nominee – Encounters Award – Berlin International Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Fiction Film – Euganea Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Film/ Special Jury Award – Iranian Film Festival Zurichv
Short Films
In the Shadow of Cypress (by Hossein Molayemi & Shirin Sohani)
This Oscar-winning animated short explores the emotional aftermath of war, as a father and daughter find solace in the presence of a beached whale. A former captain, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, lives with his daughter in a humble house located by the sea. Together, they live an isolated life and have to confront the challenges of a harsh life. Despite the captain’s deep desire to be a devoted and caring father, he finds himself unable to fulfil his role and connect with his daughter in the way that he longs to. One morning, their lives change forever when an unforeseen event occurs. Whether this event proves to be a newfound source of hope or an additional burden remains to be seen.
2025 Winner – Best Animated Short Film – Academy Awards, USA
2024 Winner – Best Short Animation – Tribeca Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Animation – Miami International Short Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Animation (International) – Tehran International Short Film Festival
2024 Winner – Best Animation (National) – Tehran International Short Film Festival
Empty Your Pockets (by Tara Aghdashloo)
A dark comedy about a day in the life of Hassan, a young airport customs officer who must secure an advance on his salary to afford his mother’s medication. As the dark side of his job becomes more clear, Hassan must decide what matters to him the most, and what cost he is willing to pay.
2024 Winner – Outstanding Short Actor – Toronto ReelWorld Film Festival
Alone Together (by Omid Mirzaei)
Alone Together is about a 10 years old boy traveling with bus and in the middle of road. Police find something illegal under his clothes
Bonus (by Reza Nejati)
Bonus is about a conscientious and hardworking math teacher who faces an uncomfortable situation. During the exams, one of his students gets a failing grade and this causes tension between the teacher and the student. However, the teacher cannot change the grade due to his principles and fairness. Due to the teacher’s hatred for the student, he decides to put his job position at risk by staging a work. He’s looking for a way to show Ali, his student, that he’s interested in his job, but he can’t change his grade. In this situation, the math teacher has two options: either to end this whole issue by paying the ransom to Ali and accept being guilty, or to use another method to prove himself and keep his position.
Brother’s Horn (by Majid Asadi)
The older brother is versatile and the owner of a small workshop of ceramic dishes. The authority of the little brother is completely with him. Every morning at 9 o’clock in an innovative game, whoever breaks the most dishes during yesterday’s work will get the first slap. In an unwritten rule, the little brother has always lost this game. Today, he rebels against this rule and can finally turn the game in his favor.
Hunchback (by Tahmineh Bahram)
Firoozeh, a 20-year-old woman living in poverty, considers selling her eggs at a fertility clinic on the advice of her friend Shahla. Shahla arranges a meeting with Minoo Teymoori, a woman seeking a donor who resembles her. However, Firoozeh is burdened by a secret she shares with Shahla, and during the meeting, Teymoori’s probing questions push Firoozeh to confront her past and the weight of her decision.
2024 Winner – Outstanding Short Actor – Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA)
My Father (by Pegah Ahangarani)
The director explores her relationship with her father Jamshid. Before the revolution, he was a filmmaker who had created several 8mm short films, some of which are included in this documentary. With a camera always in hand, he captured photographs and films, establishing himself as a revolutionary filmmaker. His closest friend, Davood, played the lead role in all of his movies. When the Iranian revolution began, both Jamshid and Davood became dedicated activists, supporting the cause. Jamshid held deep admiration for Khomeini. As the Iran-Iraq war erupted, Jamshid joined the initial wave of volunteers and fought under Khomeini’s command for 8 years on the frontlines, displaying unwavering loyalty to Iran. However, in the war’s final year, Jamshid’s world shattered as Davood got executed.
2023 Winner – Short Documentary – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
2023 Nominee – Best Short Film – Dokufest Documentary and Short Film
2023 Nominee – Short Dox Award – Dokufest Documentary and Short Film
Skin of Water (by Somayeh)
Through abstract and symbolic imagery, ‘Skin of Water’ hauntingly delves into an Iranian father, Amir, and the echo of his memories. The film reveals his turbulent journey through grief, guilt, and obsession, as he confronts his role alongside that of a mesmerising butterfly, unraveling how both contributed to the tragic death of his son, Ehsan.
Persian Film Festival
24 April to 11 May
