The 9th Persian Film Festival was presented in partnership with Palace Cinemas and showcased the largest film program dedicated to Persian cinema internationally. The 8th Festival was dedicated to women from the Persian-speaking communities and paid tribute to their strength, courage and artistic expression through screening films by women or with women in leading roles, depicting some of the challenges and difficulties they endure and overcome.

Films

Festival Jury

  • Pat Fiske

    2020

  • Peter Andrikidis

    2020

  • Romaine Moreton

    2020

  • Rahel Romahn

    2020

  • Helena Sawires

    2020

Winners

Best Feature Film

Director: Siamak Etemadi

Best Short Film

Director: Sonia K Haddad

Academic Program

  • Catharine Lumby

    2023

  • Karen Pearlman

    2020

  • Sanaz Fotouhi

    2020

Book Launch

The Persian Film Festival is pleased to celebrate the launch of Sanaz Fotouhi’s new book, Love Marriage in Kabul: A Memoir (Gazebo, 2020).

In the film industry, we are familiar with the process of adaptation where usually the story line of a book is translated into the visual world of a film. However, there are few instances where a book is written about or based on a film. In this discussion, join Sanaz Fotouhi, Karen Pearlman and Catherine Lumby as they discuss Fotouhi’s latest book Love Marriage in Kabul: A Memoir, which chronicles the making of and behind the scene of the award winning documentary by the same nam.

Love Marriage in Kabul: A Memoir is the behind-the-scenes account of the hardships and heartaches, tears and joys of the seemingly impossible project of making a film in Afghanistan. It is the story of a young woman’s determination to confront her fears to provide an insight into the hidden world of Afghanistan’s widows and orphans. With rare compassion and lucidity, Sanaz Fotouhi chronicles her inner struggles and external events and leads us to interrogate our own notion of humanity.