EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, who is an executive producer on Noora Niasari’s debut film Shayda, will not be attending the pic’s August 12 closing-night screening at the Locarno Film Festival out of support for the SAG-AFTRA strike. Niasari and star Zar Amir Ebrahimi will attend the movie’s play at the Swiss fest.
“As executive producer I couldn’t be more proud of Shayda, the remarkable debut feature from Iranian-Australian Noora Niasari, starring the extraordinary Zar Amir Ebrahimi,” Blanchett said in a statement to Deadline. “I celebrate the work of the whole filmmaking team and am thrilled that the film can be seen at the closing night of the glorious Locarno Festival next week.”
She added: “As a dedicated member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Actors’ Council, I have made the difficult but necessary decision not to attend at this crucial time. Dirty Films wholeheartedly supports Noora Niasari’s resonant, heartbreaking film, and with our fellow producers we are thrilled that the Piazza Grande audience will have the opportunity to connect with its humanity.”
Blanchett had been scheduled to moderate an August 12 afternoon conversation between Niasari and Ebrahimi on “Iranian Women and Iranian Cinema” ahead of the Shayda screening in Locarno’s 8k-seat Piazza Grande.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Selina Zahednia in ‘Shayda’
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Shayda made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, where it won the Audience Award. Holy Spider actress Ebrahimi stars as a brave Iranian mother who finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her 6-year-old daughter (Selina Zahednia) after fleeing an abusive relationship. Watch a trailer below.
The pic is based on Niasari’s own mother, who fled an arranged marriage to raise her daughter in Australia, and it takes place over the Persian New Year, when the mother and daughter take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings. However, when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardized.
Blanchett spoke to Deadline back in January about Shayda, saying: “We knew this story was strong and had perspective unlike any Australian film we had seen before. It’s an intensely personal and domestic scenario but the story Noora drew out of it, we felt had wider cultural resonances. Noora’s short films [17 Years and a Day, Tâm] proved she was a visceral filmmaker with an emotionally rich point of view.”
Shayda shines a light on the resilience and strength of Iranian women.
“The current situation in Iran is horrifying and advancing each day into darker waters for women,” added Blanchett back in January. “In Noora’s deft hands, Shayda, whilst set firmly in Australia in the 1990s, powerfully resonates domestic personal tribulations into an urgent cultural conversation.”
Shayda also will play the Melbourne Film Festival this week.
Blanchett’s Dirty Films label is making a big splash on the fall film festival circuit, with Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy making its North American premiere at TIFF in September following its Cannes world premiere in May. Also headed to TIFF is Fingernails from filmmaker Christos Nikou, starring Riz Ahmed, Jessie Buckley, Luke Wilson, Jeremy Allen White and Annie Murphy.
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told Deadline that independent movies headed to film festivals can have their stars promote “if they can quality for an interim agreement” with the guild.
The Locarno Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland runs from Aug. 2-12.
Here’s the trailer for Shayda: