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shareIranian Documentary Shorts offers an intimate look at resilience, creativity, and survival in the face of isolation and loss.
In Penosar, an aging shepherd turns memory into art, painting scenes from his life onto mountain rocks as both meditation and legacy. Alone in Tehran is a haunting self-portrait filmed during active conflict, where a young woman uses her phone to capture a city, and a self on the brink of disappearance. Sarnevesht follows 18-year-old Sahar as she shoulders the weight of caring for her father after her mother’s death, navigating poverty and responsibility with quiet strength.
These films reflect Iran through deeply personal lenses, revealing the persistence of hope and humanity even in the most difficult conditions.
In this program
Penosar
Directed by hosein fatahi
Hemat is an old shepherd who lives with his wife in Alborz mountains in Iran. In his free time in mountain he paint on the rocks what was he remembered.
Sarnevesht
Directed by yaser talebi
After the death of her mother 18-year-old Sahar is left in charge of her poor, mentally disabled father…
Firewall
Directed by Bita Ghassemi
Ani, an Iranian-American girl in Texas longs for her father, lost and unreachable due to an internet firewall in politically turbulent Iran. When her father mysteriously returns, ancient Persian mythology intertwines with her reality, forcing her to confront the demons that have kept her from finding peace.
Alone in Tehran
Directed by Amen sahraei
A girl in a silenced, nearly abandoned city, with nothing but her phone, she began to record the final days that felt like the end of everything. This is a war diary, raw, fragmented, intimate, and real. It captures the dread and beauty of surviving through isolation, violence, and the haunting quietness of a vanishing world. Shot in the streets and indoors during the active conflict, this film is not only a testimony to survival, but to the act of documenting when all else collapses.
