
Sixteen-year-old Soraya, a strong-willed Afghan sculptor and illustrator, seeks a way out of Iran to join her mother in Austria. Shot by Soraya on her cell phone and directed by Mehrdad Oskouei, this subtly textured self-portrait interweaves her illustrations with chilling scenes of escape attempts and videos of her singing, dancing, and revealing bruises inflicted by her violent husband. Through masterful cinematography and Soraya’s radiant energy, this empowering collaboration between an established filmmaker and a young artist enables her to reclaim her identity.
- Year2026
- Runtime77 minutes
- LanguagePersian, Dari, Turkish
- CountryIran, Turkey, Greece
- DirectorMehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhlaghi
- ScreenwriterMehrdad Oskouei, Amir Adibparvar, Siavash Jamali
- ProducerMehrdad Oskouei, Siavash Jamali
- Executive ProducerChandra Jessee and Rebecca Lichtenfeld for InMaat; Tony Tabatznik, Jenny Warburg, David Borenstein, James Costa and Trevor Burgess for Bird Street Productions; and Radovan Síbrt.
- CinematographerSoraya Akhlaghi
- EditorAmir Adibparvar
Sixteen-year-old Soraya, a strong-willed Afghan sculptor and illustrator, seeks a way out of Iran to join her mother in Austria. Shot by Soraya on her cell phone and directed by Mehrdad Oskouei, this subtly textured self-portrait interweaves her illustrations with chilling scenes of escape attempts and videos of her singing, dancing, and revealing bruises inflicted by her violent husband. Through masterful cinematography and Soraya’s radiant energy, this empowering collaboration between an established filmmaker and a young artist enables her to reclaim her identity.
- Year2026
- Runtime77 minutes
- LanguagePersian, Dari, Turkish
- CountryIran, Turkey, Greece
- DirectorMehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhlaghi
- ScreenwriterMehrdad Oskouei, Amir Adibparvar, Siavash Jamali
- ProducerMehrdad Oskouei, Siavash Jamali
- Executive ProducerChandra Jessee and Rebecca Lichtenfeld for InMaat; Tony Tabatznik, Jenny Warburg, David Borenstein, James Costa and Trevor Burgess for Bird Street Productions; and Radovan Síbrt.
- CinematographerSoraya Akhlaghi
- EditorAmir Adibparvar