The Festival 2026 opened at Palace cinemas at the Entertainment Quarter last night (Friday 17th April).
Opening night addresses were given by Professor Claire Annesley, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales, and following, Festival Director Amin Palangi.
As part of the evening’s formalities, the Persian Film Festival jury, announced this year’s Golden Gazelle Award winners.
Best Feature Film – MORTICIAN – Directed by Abdolreza Kahani
Best Short Film – ITALIANO – Directed by Mehdi Davachi
Special Mention – BETWEEN DREAMS AND HOPE – Directed by Farnoosh Samadi
After the formalities were over, the festival began in earnest with the opening night film, CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS, a 2025 documentary directed by Mohammadreza Eying and Sara Khaki, in their feature film debut.
The film is about Sara Shahverdi who was the first Iranian woman to be elected as a councilwoman in a rural village. Sara was a fiercely independent, rebellious woman who despised how subjugated women’s lives were. Girls as young as eleven were married off by their parents. Women’s lives were defined by getting married, raising children and being subservient…
Sara set out to talk to the parents; to stop them organising child marriage. She began teaching schoolgirls to try and see a new way, that they should try and finish school, go to University, and get a professional career.
As well, Sara loved nothing more than motorbike riding, a passion of which stemmed from her father taking her riding on his bike through the vast countryside. She began teaching some of the girls to ride, to get them to feel the exhilaration that it can bring.
The more that Sara tried to set the girls on a new path, the more opposition she received from the village. The heat increases, and things come to a very sad resolution.
This was a well crafted and achingly sad film, documenting the terribly dire situation for women in women. CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS represented a powerful, memorable start to the Festival.
Tonight, two films, ROYA and BETWEEN DREAMS OF HOPE, are screening.
Tomorrow (Saturday), four films are screening: THE STRANGER AND THE FOG at 1.30pm, THE THINGS YOU KILL at 4.30pm, DIVINE COMEDY at 6.30pm, and MORTICIAN at 8.30pm.
The festival closes on Sunday 19th April with an eclectic session of short films from 2pm and then the closing night film SUNSHINE EXPRESS at 5.30pm.
Support this important film festival now in its twelfth year. It is great that filmmakers, in such a bleak environment, are still able to tell stories and make films from a country that has such a rich culture and history, forever besmirched by the horrid current regime, that reach an international audience.
http://www.persianfilmfestival.com
