My Tehran for Sale

My Tehran for Sale
Directed byGranaz Moussavi
Written byGranaz Moussavi
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGranaz Moussavi, Bonnie Elliott
Edited byBryan Mason
Production
company

My Tehran for Sale (Persian: تهران من، حراج) is a 2009 Australian film filmed in Iran, written and directed by Iranian-Australian director Granaz Moussavi. It was produced by Cyan Films and stars Marzieh Vafamehr, Amir Chegini, and Asha Mehrabi. The film explores contemporary Tehran and its underground art scene, focusing on the life of a young actress who has been banned from theatre work.

Plot

Marzieh is a young actress living in Tehran. The authorities have banned her, like many other young actors, from doing theatre work, forcing her to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Saman, who was born in Iran but has become an Australian citizen after migrating there. Saman offers her a way out of Iran and shows Marzieh the possibility of living without fear, but the film also looks at the difficulties faced by migrants.

Cast

  • Marzieh Vafamehr, an Iranian documentary filmmaker and actress, as Marzieh
  • Amir Chegini, as Saman
  • Asha Mehrabi

Production

My Tehran for Sale is an Australian-produced film.[1] It is the debut feature film of writer/director Granaz Moussavi, who won a pitching competition at the Screen Producers Association of Australia conference in 2006.[2] She shot in Tehran in August and September 2008[2] with a hand-held camera.[3] Moussavi was also involved in post-production work on the film in South Australia, and did not expect the film to be allowed to be shown in Iran (so did not ask permission for this[1]). She moved from Iran to Australia with her parents around 1996, and continued to live between both countries.[2]

The film was the first feature film produced by Adelaide producer Julie Ryan since her many collaborations with director Rolf de Heer, over around a decade, and the first for her company Cyan Films, which she formed with Kate Croser.[2]

Release

My Tehran for Sale had its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in February 2009.[2]

It was an official selection to the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival,[4] and also screened at the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. In 2010 it was screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, International Film Festival Prague - Febiofest, Cinema Novo Film Festival Brugges, CPH:PIX Copenhagen International Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico, Sydney Travelling Film Festival, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, and others.

However, it had limited cinema release in Australia, only being shown in Adelaide and Hobart. A "bare bones" DVD edition was released, with no publicity.[1]

Reception

Australian film scholar Hamish Ford wrote: "Thanks to Marzieh Vafamehr's remarkable central performance and Granaz Moussavi's savage intelligence, the story of My Tehran For Sale has a lot to tell us – about both Australia and Iran, within and outside the film".[1]

Iranian critic and film scholar Parviz Jahed compared My Tehran for Sale with Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu's film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.[5]

Accolades

Arrest of Vafamehr

Controversy surrounded the film when unauthorised copies of the film were circulated in Tehran. In July 2011, Iranian authorities arrested Vafamehr, reportedly for acting in the film without proper Islamic hijab and with a shaved head. She was sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes; however, due to international pressure and various campaigns, an appeals court later reduced her sentence to only three months' imprisonment. She was released in October 2011.[6][7]

In November 2011 the film was screened in the inaugural Stop Violence Against Women Film Festival in Melbourne 2011, presented by Amnesty International Australia's Victorian Women's Rights team.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ford, Hamish (17 October 2011). "A story that tells us as much about Australia as Iran". ABC News. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e George, Sandy (2 December 2008). "First Australia-Iran film My Tehran For Sale will premiere in Adelaide". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  3. ^ Barber, Lynden (16 December 2010). "My Tehran for Sale Review". SBS What's On. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  4. ^ "2009 Press Releases: Wide Selection Of Festival Titles Available For Acquisition". Toronto International Film Festival. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  5. ^ Parviz Jahed (25 February 2011). "Mardo Mak" مردمک - مهمانی به صرف شام و شلاق (in Persian). Archived from the original on 28 February 2011.
  6. ^ Kenneally, Tim (28 October 2011). "Iranian Actress Freed From Prison on Reduced Sentence". Reuters. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Granaz Moussavi (2009)". The Film Sufi: “My Tehran for Sale”. 26 February 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  8. ^ "Stop Violence Against Women Film Festival". Amnesty International Australia. November 2011. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.