HELTER SHELTER

SHAYDA Noora Niasari’s Sundance-winning debut takes her back into childhood trauma…

Zar Amir Ebrahimi (with Selina Zahednia) stars as a mother taking refuge from her abusive husband

When Noora Niasari was five, she was living in a women’s shelter in Australia with her Iranian mother, a traumatic experience that she’s now turned into her powerful debut feature, Shayda. ‘It was just one of those experiences that really shaped me,’ she says. ‘And I knew that I wanted to see this story come to life, from an authentic, truthful place. I felt that I was the only person to do that, given my lived experience.’

Niasari gained help from her mother, who spent six months writing a memoir of their time in the shelter. ‘I mean, it was incredibly cathartic for both of us, that six-month journalling process. I discovered so much about her and our story that I didn’t know.’ Over three years, she then wrote a story about a mother of one, Shayda, who escapes from her violent Iranian husband Hossein.

With the production aided by Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton’s Dirty Films, to cast Shayda, Niasari was tipped off by actress Golshifteh Farahani. She introduced her to fellow French-Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for Holy Spider. ‘Within the first 10-15 seconds of seeing Zar’s tape, I knew she was Shayda,’ says Niasari. ‘I knew she was everything that I was looking for. And more.’

Finding newcomer Selina Zahednia to play Shayda’s young daughter, Mona, Niasari admits the process of exploring her past was tough. ‘Every step of the way, from the writing to the production to post-production, I have had the support of a therapist, which was needed.’ But for the writer/director, who saw the film win the Audience Award at Sundance last year, it was vital to speak up on such a universal horror.

‘Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate culture, or socio-economic situations… it affects all of us,’ says Niasari, pointing to her homeland. ‘It’s a true epidemic in Australia. There’s been around 60 documented women killed by their partners just this year [2023]. So it’s an alarming statistic, and we need to do more about it all over the world.’

SHAYDA OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 8 MARCH.

Zar Amir Ebrahimi

In what ways did you relate to Shayda? We share some little things, me and Shayda. I sometimes really miss her. I’m not a mother, though. So that was my first challenge. And I really concentrated to find this feeling, having to protect this child from this violence, from this life with a father.

Apart from talking to Noora, how did you research the role? Her mum started to write stuff for Noora. So they shared this with me. Many pages, voices and photos. Many, many documents to just study and then I met her mother. And it’s funny because her mother is a very different person, [from] this Shayda I created. She’s so strong. And sometimes she just says, ‘Zar, you brought too much emotion to this character. I’m not that person you know!’

Did you see it as a very Iranian story or more universal? For these characters, [they] are all victims, of the situation or condition of that society or all these societies we are living in. In this story, it’s not only about Iranian people or Iranian society. I know some French people who are the same… this misogyny with this patriarchal mindset. So it’s not only about those women in shelter; they’ve all suffered.