08/02/2024 - The German-Iranian co-production is a diary-style narrative by Farahnaz Sharifi, from her childhood to the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising

My Stolen Planet [+see also:
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film profile] is a diary-style narrative by Farah, an Iranian filmmaker. Born during the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, she captures moments of joy and defiance in her daily life, navigating the contrast between domestic freedom and external oppression. Simultaneously, she collects 8mm archives from people she doesn't know. Relying on others' recordings, she gains a new perspective on losing memories. Her connection with Leyla, an Iranian professor who left Iran during the revolution, adds a name and story to one of her archive's faces. Farah's mother, suffering from Alzheimer's, motivates her to fight against forgetting. In the fall of 2022, the Women, Life, Freedom uprising became a turning point in Farah's life, as well as in the lives of many others in Iran.

This is the synopsis of the first documentary feature by Iranian director Farahnaz Sharifi, which has been selected for the Panorama section of the 74th Berlinale, which will unspool from 15 to 25 February.

Farahnaz Sharifi is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker and film editor who was forced to go into exile at the end of 2022. She has graduated from Tehran University in Cinema studies. Her films are mostly based on archives and she uses archive images and film to tell her stories. Farahnaz is also a well known film-editor in Iran. Her recent work as an editor is an acclaimed feature length documentary film Radiograph of a Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] which won the Best feature length documentary Film Award and an Award for creative use of archive at the 2020 IDFA. Farahnaz has received many awards inside and outside of Iran including best film Award in Uppsala Short Film Festival. In addition, she was a jury member at the 2021 IDFA. Beside her career as a filmmaker and editor, she is also a writer and her book of short stories Breathing in Open Air has been published in Iran.

According to Farahnaz, "When we share a memory with others, it moves from private to public. This story is woven tightly with a resistance to forgetting. At a time when power structures strive to narrate history in ways that hide important and popular segments, it becomes all the more crucial to share personal details and micro-narratives."

My Stolen Planet is produced by Anke Petersen and Lilian Tietjen for Jyoti and Farzad Pak PakFilm. France's CAT&Docs is handling international sales.

Check our exclusive trailer below:

(Translated from Spanish)