15/03/2024 - Atiye Zare Arand’s documentary follows a nine-year-old Iranian girl who plans to sue her parents after their bitter divorce

Atiye Zare Arand’s doc Grand Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] is set to world-premiere in the NEXT:WAVE strand of this year’s CPH:DOX (13-24 March).

Set in Esfahan, Iran, the picture follows Melina, who has lived with her grandparents since her parents’ divorce. She wants to live with her mother, but this is not possible because both her father and her new stepfather are against it. Besides that, Melina’s mum struggles to balance her relationship with her new spouse and fostering a proper relationship with her daughter. Celebrating her ninth birthday, Melina is finally old enough to bring her custody case to court. With the law on her side, she hopes to eventually choose her own custodian. Unfortunately, Melina is not aware of how the adult world is organised and how reality will probably play out differently.

Grand Me was produced by Belgium’s Associate Directors, in co-production with ATAM Film (Iran), VRT (Belgium) and Al Jazeera Documentary Channel (Qatar). It has been supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD), with additional backing from DMZ Docs Industry, the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) and the Tax Shelter system of the Belgian Federal Government, via the Flanders Tax Shelter. Its international rights are being handled by Paris-based CAT&Docs.

Check out our exclusive trailer below: