DRAMA SHORTS 2026
14th Esfand
Short | Drama | Duration 16:00 | Director | Mohammad Jafari Tafreshi Moghaddam (Iran)
After his grandfather’s death and his mother’s departure for work, a five-year-old boy faces solitude, fear and silence trapped between reality and imagination, waiting for a voice that may never return.
Director Biography
Mohammad Jafari Tafreshi Moghaddam (1993, Tehran) is an Iranian writer and director. His debut short film The 14th of Esfand explores the formation of subjectivity through silence and absence.
He holds a B.A. in Directing and is an M.A. student in Dramatic Literature. His previous stage works include I Can’t Imagine Tomorrow (by Tennessee Williams) and The Pelican Essay (adapted from August Strindberg). He studied under Farzad Motamen, Ahmad Alasti, Mohammad Reza Aslani, Babak Mohammadi, Saeed Aghighi, and Mehran Kashani.
Filmography:
14th Esfand | Psychological Drama | 2025
Director Statement
14th Esfand is a cinematic exploration of subject formation in Lacanian psychoanalysis.
The protagonist passes through three fundamental stages: the Imaginary, ruled by the image and the primal bond with the Other (the mother) the Symbolic, marked by entry into language, law, and social order; and the Real, where meaning collapses and the subject confronts pure lack. The mother is both absent and central not merely a character but a state of suspension and refuge. Drawing from transcendental cinema, the film uses silence, duration, and stillness not to dramatize but to reveal the void that underlies perception. Here, the future is not a path to progress but an empty surface where the self drifts and dissolves.
Brick by Brick
Short | Drama | Duration 14:07 | Director | Archie Rowell (United Kingdom)
When two aspiring TikTok influencers try to launch their careers by mocking their hometown with a viral video steeped in stereotypes, a whole community challenges them to look deeper. Together, they uncover the real Bridgwater, its vibrant community, surprising beauty, and heart, and find a new purpose.
This short film was made by a professional crew and cast working alongside the people who live and work in Bridgwater.
Captain Torres
Short |Drama | Duration 16:54 | Director | Hossein Jamshidi (Iran)
Amid famine and occupation, Ahmad faces a harrowing choice that intertwines his fate with the death of another and the survival of many.
Director Biography
Hossein Jamshidi was born on June 11, 2001, in Tehran, Iran. He is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Cinema at Pars University in Tehran and resides in Tehran.
Director Statement
"Captain Torres" follows Ahmad, a man who refuses to hide behind circumstances. He makes a conscious choice and bears its consequences. The film’s non-linear narrative reflects a mind that can no longer see itself as innocent. I make films to explore human responsibility, showing how choices shape not only the story, but the world we inhabit.
Clavier
Short |Drama | Duration 22:36 “ Director | Mohammad Hossein Hosseini (Iran)
A young woman’s personal and professional growth is stifled as she becomes emotionally trapped by her father’s progressive illness.
Director Biography - Mohammad Hossein Hosseini
Mohammad Hossein Hosseini was born on August 10, 1995, in Iran. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Law and is currently working as a filmmaker.
Director Statement
Clavier reflects my need to give form to the inner world I carry with me. Directing allows me to translate thoughts, silences, and unresolved emotions into images — a process that has become the most vital and compelling part of my personal life.
The film captures an everyday state we all recognize: moments when we move toward decisions without knowing whether they are right or wrong. Only after the choice is made do we realize how much quieter and safer life once felt before that moment.
Clavier does not seek easy answers. It invites the viewer to experience the weight of choice and its quiet aftermath, reminding us that nothing holds greater value than the fragile warmth of family.
Chasing Adonis
Short |Drama | Duration 15:09 | Director | Tom Gordon (United Kingdom)
Danny has always struggled with his reflection. After being rejected for a major acting role for not having "the right look," his insecurities spiral into obsession. Fixated on transforming his body, he follows the extreme fitness regime of social media influencer Rex, pushing himself beyond his limits. As his dangerous fixation deepens, his physical and mental health suffer, straining his relationship with Rachel and distancing him from the world around him. Even after achieving his dream physique and landing his big break, he remains at war with his own image. Chasing Adonis offers a haunting look at the silent struggles of muscle dysmorphia and the pressures placed on men to attain an impossible ideal.
Director Biography
Tom is an experienced independent film producer, director, actor and acting tutor. He trained at LAMDA, the Impulse Company and Leeds University, and co-founded the award winning film collective Good Shout, which produced the BAFTA long listed short film The Listener. As an actor he has appeared in film, television, theatre productions, radio plays and multiple big brand commercials. Behind the camera he works as a producer, director and 1st AD, and as a script developer for feature films and TV series.
Some career highlights include
Beneath The Silence - Feature Film - Producer - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15881294/
Chasing Adonis - Short Film - Director
Battle Over Britain - Feature Film - Co Lead Actor - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18829674/
Director Statement
CHASING ADONIS is the story of the often untold and unspoken about pressures associated with men's mental health to look a certain way - big muscles and zero body fat. The pursuit of a certain type of physique can become all consuming. This is not vanity, it's a deep rooted insecurity. Vanity makes you believe you look good. Body Dysmorphia makes you feel that you are never good enough.
The film explores how destructive and corrosive social media and societal influences can be - how algorithms push the impossible versions of male beauty -
All using words like Cut, Shred, and Bulk. As if these were natural things to do to your body. These are words of harm. These words tell us we are not enough as we are, we have to change to be happy. How much we have to change is not specified, and therein lies the road to despair. No matter how much you add or subtract it's never enough, there is always more that can be done. This constant chasing is so detrimental to our mental health, because we can never be present. We are always looking to our future selves, wishing them to be either bigger or smaller.
It was only during a chance conversation with writer Micky David that I discovered that the feelings of inadequacy and the way I felt about my body not only had a name, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), but was something experienced to some degree by 1 in 2 men, and 80% of those with BDD report that they have experienced suicidal thoughts. My hope is that we can move the dial on discussions about body - I believe our bodies should function for us and us alone, they should never be a reason to feel judged.
Deeply Darkly Drole
Short | Comedy Drama | Duration 14:32 | Director | Mohamad Razazian (Iran)
A middle-aged bachelor lives with his difficult, ex-ballet teacher mother. Consumed by grief, he suddenly finds himself sobbing but without tears. Determined to discover whether his inability to shed tears stems from an emotional lack or something deeper, he goes to disturbing extremes—even wondering if a deliberate tragedy might bring him to tears.
Director Biography
Mohamad Razazian was born in Tehran, Iran on June 7, 1984. Though he has a master's in Particle Physics, his passion for literature and cinema led him down other paths. He has written scripts and plays that were never allowed in Iran, and has occasionally made music videos. He has translated literary works, such as ‘Sunflower Sutra’ (a collection of poems by Allen Ginsburg, published in 2018), ‘On the Road’ (a novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 2019), ‘The Subterraneans’ (a novella by J.Kerouac, published in 2019), ‘Satori in Paris’ & ‘Pic’ (two novellas in one book by J.Kerouac, published in 2020), ‘Beautiful Losers’ (a novel by Leonard Cohen, published in 2020), ‘Tristessa’ (a novella by J.Kerouac, published in 2022), and ‘Generation Pi’ (a novel by Victor Pelevin, translated into English by Andrew Bromfield, published in 2023). He has also written a novel, ‘The Delicacy of Killing the Bluebird’, that has never been published in Iran for censorship reasons.
Short Films:
2025: Deeply Darkly Drole │Digital 2K, 14min 32, Colour, Iran
2019: Horse │ Digital 2k, 13min 28, Colour, Iran
Music Videos:
2023: Nightmare
2022: You were right to leave
Director Statement
It is a playful, black comedy with flashes of sardonic narrative, about how an unconscious process of grieving, may mutate into a conscious one. While he tries to gain self-awareness through this dysfunctional mutation, the protagonist's home becomes a setting in which the outside world almost ceases to exist. The gentle dynamics, camerawork, set design and sound composition gradually reveal the satirical nature of the situation, as the protagonist questions the authenticity of his own grief.
EL CLASICO
Short | Drama | Duration 24:48 | Director | Reza Mohebi (Iran)
Two 12-year-old boys in a remote Afghan village turn their friendship into rivalry over football legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi—until a simple school prize transforms their playful debate into an emotional struggle over identity, desire, and belonging.
Director Biography
Reza Mohebi
Born in 1986 in Tehran, Iran, Reza Mohebi is a writer, screenwriter, and director. He is currently a PhD candidate in Cultural Sociology.
Director Statement
Cinema, to me, has never been a mere vessel for entertainment; it is an intimate space where meaning is sculpted from shadows and friction. It is a medium that demands we pull the audience into the core of human experience, offering them an echo that lingers long after the screen fades to black.
El Clásico was born from this exact conviction. On the surface, it is inspired by the legendary rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi, set in a remote village in Afghanistan. But beneath the youthful banter lies a fragile world where children navigate the crushing weight of their socio-economic realities. In this stark landscape, their obsession with football is not just a hobby—it is a survival mechanism, a desperate anchor of joy.
Through Ahmad and Morteza, I wanted to explore the profound anatomy of attachment. There are moments in life when we become so intensely bound to an object, a person, or an imagined future, that even the threat of its loss can shatter our entire perception of reality. This film is an exploration of that delicate precipice where childhood innocence collides with the sharp edges of resentment, passion, and the fierce longing to belong.
Faceless
Short | Drama | Duration 20:00 | Director | Mohammad Shahrestanaki (Iran)
Ebrahim, a cashier at a coffee shop, is too preoccupied with people’s faces, lonely, and under pressure from the views of those around him on marriage. He observes and judges other people’s relationships, to the point where jealousy and frustration lead him to irreversible behavior that breaks him from within.
Director Biography
Mohammad Shahrestanaki (1988, Tehran) is a filmmaker and communication sciences graduate. He is currently studying cinema at the MA level and has worked since 2019 in journalism and independent filmmaking. He has contributed to over 50 short films and documentaries as editor, sound designer, and colorist. His work focuses on human and social issues and contemporary relationships.
Filmography:
Split ends / 18 min / 2022
The Sensitive Zone / 12 min / 2024
Faceless / 20 min / 2026
Director Statement
Faceless is an attempt to look at people who live on the margins of everyday judgments those who are not seen, yet constantly observe and judge others. For me, Ebrahim represents a generation of lonely men whose identities are shaped not by their inner desires, but by society’s external gaze; a gaze that reduces human value to appearance, success, and social approval.
In this film, the “face” is not merely a physical feature, but a metaphor for judgment, power, and social privilege. In his attempt to gain control over this unfair world, Ebrahim gradually loses the boundary between observation and intrusion, fantasy and reality, victimhood and guilt. Faceless is not a story about evil; it is a story about a human being’s inability to endure rejection and loneliness.
This film is an invitation to pause before judging others, and before allowing ourselves, under the guise of morality, to cross into the private lives of people.
Face-off
Short | Drama | Duration 09:54 | Director | Pascal Chaumont (Canada)
A freezing night wraps around a neighborhood outdoor rink. Théo, 14, skates alone in circles, as if trying to outrun something that’s haunting him.
Then, a presence emerges. His father. Words are exchanged, eyes meet. But beneath the surface, what unfolds goes far beyond appearances: regrets, silences, an unspoken need for answers. Théo carries a buildup of emotions he can no longer contain, and this night may well tip everything over.
Nearby, Gabriel, his friend, watches the scene alongside his grandfather Paul, a silent witness to a moment that feels larger than life.
Face-Off is an intimate drama driven by a restrained, pared-down approach to storytelling, where the ice becomes a mental space, a site of inner confrontation. Through an open-air chamber piece, the film explores grief, isolation, and the visceral need to say what has never been said.
Balancing realism and unease, Face-Off deliberately keeps the viewer in a blurred zone—where emotion takes over from reason, and where absence becomes almost tangible.
Director Biography
Pascal Chaumont is a director, cinematographer, producer, and co-founder of Productions Chaumont, an independent production company based in Québec for over 15 years. He collaborates with agencies, brands, and other production companies to create commercial films, branded content, and visually striking works that balance creativity with strategy.
Curious, meticulous, and guided by a sensitive eye, Pascal has served as director of photography on several hundred projects, in addition to directing numerous visual campaigns driven by human-centered storytelling and a cinematic aesthetic. He is actively involved at every stage of production—from ideation to post-production—always with a strong attention to detail, meaning, and rhythm.
Alongside his commercial work, Pascal develops fiction projects inspired by personal and human stories. He co-directed with his partner Aline Viens Douleur d’enfant (2014), Un nœud dans le bois (2023), and Face-Off (2025), three short films where vulnerability, visual symbolism, and emotional impact intersect. He also directed the documentary Dans la rue (2011), a moving exploration of homelessness in Montréal. Through these works, he explores the unspoken, family bonds, and resilience, relying on a strong visual language and a precise, restrained tone.
Pascal works at the crossroads of auteur cinema and commercial production, placing his expertise in service of stories that deserve to be seen, heard, and felt.
Director Statement
Artistic Vision
Face-Off is a short film rooted in a reality that is both simple and deeply unsettling: that of a grieving adolescent. The story unfolds over a single winter evening, in a familiar setting—an outdoor neighborhood rink—that gradually becomes the stage for an inner metaphor. The narrative is driven by an underlying tension: that of a young person struggling to keep his head above water during a time when his sense of stability is falling apart.
Themes and Messages
Through this story, I aim to explore the mechanisms of grief, family silences, and the often awkward attempts at connection between individuals.
The title Face-Off first refers to the world of hockey, to that suspended moment of tension before the puck is dropped, but it also evokes a far more intimate confrontation. At the heart of the film, the true face-off does not take place between two players, but between Théo and himself. What he confronts is a fantasized image of his father—a projection of what he wished he could have said, heard, or understood. The scene on the ice between Théo and his father acts as a powerful visual metaphor for this inner struggle. Face-Off thus becomes the stage for a silent duel between memory and reality, between what we still carry within us and what we must learn to let go.
Narrative Choices
The film is built around restrained, almost minimalist dialogue, where what remains unspoken carries as much weight as the words themselves. Few lines, but great attention paid to looks, silences, and gestures. The action is tightly confined in time and space in order to create a contained emotional intensity. Hockey is not the central subject here, but rather a narrative pretext: a familiar structure that allows deeper issues to surface—unspoken pain, the absence of words, the difficulty of communicating with those we love—particularly within the family—and the acceptance of loss.
Directorial Intentions
Visually, Face-Off draws from auteur cinema through an intimate approach. The rink becomes a stylized space, both concrete and symbolic. The direction of actors seeks authenticity: sensitive, truthful performances, free of exaggeration. One of the film’s key moments—the fall into the water—is treated as a visceral metaphor for emotions that overflow. Water here reflects an inner world in crisis, a sudden immersion into what one has been trying to contain. This scene symbolizes a loss of balance, a descent inward, where grief, anger, and loneliness blend together, without always knowing how to rise back to the surface.
Objectives
My intention is to offer a short but meaningful narrative, where emotion does not come from grand statements, but from the subtle details of human connection. Face-Off aims to move audiences through its sincerity, to resonate with those who have experienced loss or those moments when human bonds—between friends, parents, and children—become strained and fragile for lack of words. This film is a dive into the inner world of an adolescent who has not yet found how to surface, but who is trying, in his own way, to live with absence, with what weighs heavy, with what remains unresolved.
Farewellday
Short | Drama | Duration 20:39 | Director | Saeed Javadi (Iran)
The film portrays the final days of a man’s life, who returns home from the hospital to spend his last moments with his family. However, instead of finding peace, his home becomes a stage for emotional and psychological challenges. His wife, overwhelmed by despair and hopelessness, is on the verge of collapse, unable to provide him with proper support. Other family members are also trapped in a heavy and sorrowful atmosphere. The man, with the little strength he has left, tries to bring hope and solace to them. But will he succeed in being the pillar of his family during his final days, or will everything crumble in the face of death and despair?
Director Biography
Born in 1986, he graduated in Film Directing from IRIB University. Since 2005, he has been actively involved in filmmaking, having directed over ten short fiction films and several television documentaries. In recent years, his films The Pit and Apollo have been featured in international festivals. Some of his notable works include Calm, The Timid Kite, The Pit, Apollo, and The Dance of Water.
Melatonin
Short | Drama | Duration 13:52 | Director | Hannaneh Daliri (Iran)
Ali a 14-year-old boy from southern Tehran, works in a repair shop to support his family. After a period of detention, he discovers that his 9-year-old brother, Milad has taken his place a place that reminds Ali of hidden trauma. When he realizes Milad has also become a victim, Ali is forced to find a way forward between silence, the collapse of his family, and standing up against injustice
Director Biography
Fatemeh Daliri (also known as Hannaneh) is an independent Iranian filmmaker, writer, and director.
She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts (2022), along with degrees in Economics and a Master’s in Business Administration from Islamic Azad University. In 2018, she completed directing and performance training at a private institute. Melatonin is her second short film.
Filmography:
- Myanmar| Drama | 17:05 | 2024
- Melatonin | Drama | 13:47 | 2026
Director Statement
As a filmmaker, I have long been aware of the fear and trauma surrounding sexual harassment. This awareness deepened when I encountered men who had suffered abuse as children, often within their own families. Such experiences are frequently silenced and accompanied by guilt and shame. Through Melatonin, I aim to address these traumas openly and honestly, ensuring that no child who experiences abuse feels unjustly blamed, and that their stories are truly seen and heard.
In a society where restrictions on women are widespread, I created this film without official government permission, to reveal painful truths that are often ignored or concealed in the interest of appearances.
Portrait
Short | Drama | Duration 15:00 | Director | Farzam Tabibi (France, Iran)
In a photography studio, a woman and a photographer struggle to capture an innocent portrait of the woman. As tension rises between them, new photographs reveal ambiguous truths about the woman, blurring the line between reality and perception.
Logline:
In a photography studio, a woman struggles to capture an innocent portrait of herself to prove her innocence in court.
Director Biography
Farzam Tabibi (1997) is an Iranian filmmaker whose journey in cinema began in 2020 through experimental, low-budget student films. His first short fiction “Childness” (2021) was selected and awarded at several Iranian and international festivals. In 2025, following the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, he made his second short “Portrait” outside official regulations with support from Tehran’s underground cinema. Following the post-production of this film.
Director Statement
Born from a personal tension between representation and reality, "Portrait" explores the invisible weight that exists outside the frame. Every image is haunted: not just by what it reveals, but by what it withholds. Can an image ever be neutral, or is it always infused and distorted by what we bring to it?
What is a photograph, if not a mirror shaped by the perception of the viewer?
Rose
Short | Drama | Duration 18:03 | Director | Amirhossein Hashtroodi (Iran)
The film is a humanistic tale set in the snowy mountains, where poverty and harsh cold prevail. A man and his pregnant wife, who work with a group of porters to make a living, face an unexpected crisis on their journey. meanwhile, at a border post, a young guard is caught between obeying his commander and following the call of his conscience.
Director Biography
Amirhossein Hashtroodi born on March 24, 1988, in Tehran, Iran, has been passionate about art and world cultures since childhood. He has acted in several films and a TV series and has also produced and directed multiple theater plays. «Rose» is his first work as a director.
Director Statement
This film portrays the crucial role of mothers in life, highlighting their love, responsibility, and the challenges they face. It explores how poverty shapes their struggles and sometimes forces them into dangerous situations. Through this story, we reflect the resilience and dedication of mothers, and the profound impact they have on their children and society.
Silver String
Short | Drama | Duration 20:00 | Director | Getulio Ribeiro (Brazil)
Brilhante, a contemporary slave catcher, has fun with his victim before the mercy shot... . . .
Director Biography
Getulio Ribeiro, is a filmmaker and photographer from Nova Iguaçu with over 18 years of experience. He began his career at the Escola Livre de Cinema de Nova Iguaçu. He specializes in Directing, Screenwriting, Editing and Cinematography. Founder of the collective “Por Que Não? Filmes”.
Director Statement
Hello, I'm Getulio, the director of the film Silver String. I hope you like the film and if you have any problems, you can contact me.
Something Pointless
Short | Drama | Duration 14:19 | Director | Asa Bailey (United Kingdom)
WORLD PREMIERE: USA FILM FESTIVAL (2026)
25 WINS · 49 NOMINATIONS · 68+ FESTIVAL SELECTIONS · FYC
“SOMETHING POINTLESS is indeed something quite special… a genuine contender."
– Jeff York, Chicago Indie Critics / The Establishing Shot (Tomatometer-approved)
WINS INCLUDE:
Best International Short Film · Best Actor (Owen Teale) · Best Editing · Best Youth Actor (Leo Harris) · Excellence in Casting — ZepFest International Film & Music Festival
Best Short Film — Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
Best Short Film (United Kingdom) — iDEAL International Film Festival
Best Picture — East Village New York Film Festival
Best Narrative Short Film — Unseen Film Festival
NOMINATIONS INCLUDE:
Best Short Film Made in Wales (John Hefin Award) — Carmarthen Bay Film Festival (BAFTA Cymru, BAFTA British Shorts & BIFA qualifying)
Best Short Film — Yorkton Film Festival, 79th Edition
Best Actor, Best Director, Best Drama, Best Foreign Film, Best Short Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress — Beyond Hollywood International Film Festival
ALSO:
FINALIST — Emberlight IFF
SEMI-FINALIST — Kino London (BIFA qualifying)
SEMI-FINALIST — The Bay IFF
DIRECTOR'S CHOICE — The 45th Asbury Short Film Concert
Submitted to BAFTA Cymru across 9 categories
_____________________________________________________________________
Starring BAFTA-winner Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) · Olivier Award-winner Sophie Thompson (Gosford Park) · SAG Award-nominee Sule Rimi (Andor, The Day of the Jackal) · Leo Harris (The Count of Monte Cristo).
From the Oscar-winning producers of Curfew and the International Emmy–nominated producer of Tokyo Trial. Cinematography by BAFTA-winning DOP Keefa Chan.
When a bullied young boy discovers an elderly man quietly covering a forgotten brick wall with painted eggshells, an unlikely friendship forms — and a “pointless” act becomes something transformative.
_____________________________________________________________________
14:19 | Drama (2026) | Wales (UK)
Director Biography
Asa Bailey is a Welsh filmmaker, director, and technology pioneer whose career sits at the intersection of cinematic storytelling and cutting-edge production innovation. Recognized internationally for leading virtual production and AI-native workflows on major series for platforms such as Apple TV+ (Silo), Netflix (100 Years of Solitude, El Eternauta), Disney/Nat Geo (When Sharks Attack 360) and more, Bailey has helped redefine how films and television are made in the 21st century.
Founder of BAI-LEY Studios and creator of the .DAVE metadata standard — a system that embeds authorship, rights, and creative provenance at the point of capture — Bailey is widely credited with pioneering the Camera-to-Compute™ pipeline, uniting real-time visual effects, AI, tracking, and creative control into a single, on-set workflow.
Director Statement
In a world burdened by
routine and silent struggles,
Something Pointless unfolds as
a delicate tapestry of interconnected lives
seeking meaning beyond the mundane.
An elderly man,
ensnared in the twilight of his years,
formulates a simple yet profound theory: by
engaging in an utterly pointless act
each day, one can rekindle an appreciation
for life’s inherent purpose.
Embracing this belief, he begins
to affix painted eggshells onto a long, desolate wall
—a quiet rebellion against insignificance.
Parallel to his journey
is that of a young boy, overshadowed by loneliness
and the harsh realities of bullying.
Drawn to the old man’s enigmatic ritual,
he finds an unspoken connection
and a glimmer of hope.
The wall, once a symbol of decay,
slowly transforms
into a mosaic of colour and silent stories.
When the old man passes away,
his understated legacy leaves
an indelible mark on the boy.
Stepping into the role of the
silent artist, the boy continues
to adorn the wall with eggshells,
each fragment a testament to resilience
and newfound purpose.
Through this simple act, he discovers joy
in the unexpected and allows
a smile to grace his face
for the first time.—
Something Pointless is a lyrical exploration
of the human spirit, delving into themes
of inter-generational connection,
the search for meaning in everyday life, and
the transformative power of seemingly
insignificant actions.
It invites audiences
to reflect on the profound impact
that
small
gestures
can have on
others,
illuminating the beauty
that lies hidden
within the ordinary.
The Bruised Shadow
Short | Drama | Duration 12:30 | Director | Ali Raftari (Iran)
The father of the family plans to support the household financially by renting out his daughters’ wombs as surrogate mothers. However, the youngest daughter of the family…
Director Biography
Ali Raftari was born on 25th June1997 in Tehran, Iran.
He holds a degree in Film Directing from Tehran University of Art and Architecture and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Relations (PR). He has also completed acting and directing courses at Azad Acting School and Karnameh Institute.
Since 2016, he has been active in radio, television, theater, commercial companies, and advertising agencies as a writer, copywriter, commercial director, and assistant director.
The short film “The Bruised shadow “his first experience as a film director.
Director Statement
This film emerged from my observations of the oppressive atmosphere and authoritarian system in Iran, where the figure of the “father” is reproduced as an absolute dictator within the family structure.
My motivation for making this film was to portray the harsh reality of how, under such a restrictive environment, women’s fundamental rights are systematically ignored, and their bodies are reduced to instruments for sustaining the power and livelihood of this domestic dictator.
In this film, I view the family as a reflection of society,a mirror in which a woman’s individuality and freedom are completely silenced beneath the heavy shadow of authoritarianism and imposed decisions.
The Little Prince
Short | Drama | Duration 15:52 | Director | Amar khati (Iran)
A grandfather, who has never let his granddaughter step outside the house, keeps her inside with false stories to protect her from the war raging outside. The little girl, based on the stories she has heard from her grandfather, imagines a beautiful world beyond the door, unaware that there is a war outside. Due to her loneliness, she has an imaginary friend, and every night, together with her imaginary friend, she searches for a comet to make her wishes come true.
Director Biography
He is a filmmaker actively involved in short films, contributing to Iranian cinema with a focus on artistic and socially relevant narratives.
The Londoner
Short | Drama | Duration 20:00 | Director | Chris von Hoffmann (United States)
A veteran contract killer's routine assignment takes a surreal turn as memories and delusions begin to consume him.
Director Biography
A New Jersey native, Chris von Hoffmann studied at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and performed in several Off-Broadway plays before moving to Los Angeles to focus full-time on filmmaking and screenwriting.
Starting small to hone his skills, Chris wrote, produced, and directed several short films before making his feature debut in 2016, Drifter. On a minuscule budget, Chris demonstrated a unique style and confidence behind the camera, resulting in immediate attention from industry leaders. Drifter was quickly picked up for distribution by Alameda Entertainment and then licensed to Netflix and other platforms for well above its original budget.
Following the debut success of Drifter, Chris was signed by Creative Artists Agency and Grandview Management. The team set their sights on Chris' follow-up film, Monster Party, a horror/thriller/comedy with star power like Erin Moriarty, Robin Tunney, and the late Lance Reddick. The film secured worldwide distribution by RLJE Entertainment in 2018 and then became a Shudder Exclusive in 2019. It garnered critical praise from respected critics. The Hollywood Reporter quoted, "Gleefully gory and darkly funny, Monster Party is the sort of extreme genre exercise that separates real fans from mere dilettantes."
Yahoo referred to his recent 2022 film, Devil's Workshop, as "unpredictable from the jump." Starring Emile Hirsch, Radha Mitchell, and Timothy Granaderos, the film was released via Lionsgate in select theaters and worldwide digital platforms.
Chris resides in Manhattan with his fiancée and Jack-Chi, Scarlet. He's currently developing two new feature films.
Director Statement
Inspired by Sexy Beast, American Psycho, and Ernest Hemingway, The Londoner is a character piece wrapped in the skin of a gritty fever dream.
The Mould
Short | Drama | Duration 24:23 | Director | Mohammad Reza Nourmandipour (Iran)
A father confronts some problems with his only son after death of his wife, and tries to raise him in his own way.
Director Biography
Mohammad Reza Nourmandipour
Born: 1983
Education
• Diploma & Postgraduate Diploma in Painting (Visual Arts)
• BA in Graphic Design
• MA in Art Research
• Graduate of Iranian Youth Cinema Association (Tehran)
• Screenwriting – Karnameh Institute
• Film Sound & Film Analysis courses
Professional Experience
• Writer, Director & Producer of 40+ short fiction films and documentaries
• Editor of 50+ short films and documentaries
• Active filmmaker in independent cinema
Selected Films
The Order, Juan, Fauvism, Pachal, Recycling, Four Door, Birthday, The Mankind (latest)
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Festivals & Awards
• The Mankind – ISFA Cinema House selection (2019)
• Top 40 Iranian short films – Independent Short Film Festival
• Nominated: Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography
• Special Jury Award – Independent Short Film Festival
• International selections & awards including:
• Independent Shorts Awards (Gold Award, 2021)
• Box Short Film Festival (Semi-Finalist, 2021)
• FILLUM International Historical Short Film Festival (2021)
• Pinewood Studios First Time Filmmaker (2021)
• Queer International Film Festival
Director Statement
Most of the fathers who want to raise their son face challenges and conflicts. Especially in some cases where the son of the family is not similar to the father. Or the father thinks that he is not of his kind and maybe the mother of the family is not alive either.
This caused me to worry about these kinds of challenges in the family, especially the weaker sections of the society. Morteza is the story of a boy like all boys, but with a slightly smaller size and, as people say, more delicate. Meanwhile, most fathers would like their son to have a masculine body, as they say. What should be done if a boy does not have such a physical body?
Education is rooted in the past right or wrong thoughts of each person. Proper upbringing of children definitely brings a healthy society. Now why we emphasize on the word "education"? Because the main theme of this movie is based on wrong upbringing and wrong decisions that lead to tragic events.
The movie "The Mould" is actually a small part of the real narratives of this kind of conflict between fathers and sons. Maybe some people say, is it possible that there are so many attitude of aggression in the society for boys? I must say yes, even more than what many have heard.
I have made this film in the city of Kerman with all hardships and with my personal budget. Of course, this work would not have been possible if it were not for the empathy and cooperation of the good staff of Kerman's Cinema and the management of the Kerman Youth Cinema Association. If you ask why it was made in Kerman, I must say that I thought it would cost less to produce, but unfortunately it was not like that.
In the decoupage method of this film, it has been tried to be as simple as possible without exaggeration and personal judgment, most of the frames are still, natural lighting and ambient sounds without soundtrack so that the image can tell the story by itself.
The Odds Of Survival
Short | Drama | Duration 24:14 | Director | Amir Hossien Noroozi (Iran)
It tells the story of a father whose family is in danger of losing their home. Every night, bombs fall without warning, and he never knows when his home will be hit. To protect his children, he moves his own and his brother’s children into each other’s homes, so that if one house is destroyed, some of the children survive. The hardest part is that he must choose between his children. This situation leaves the father torn, full of fear, love, and the heavy burden of impossible choices.
Director Biography - Amir Hossien Noroozi
Born in 1980 in Tehran, originally from Kermanshah
His artistic journey began at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.
His first exposure to artistic education took place at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Kermanshah, where he was introduced to music, theatre, painting, and storytelling. During his high school years, he developed a deep attachment to literature and fiction, inspired by his talented and devoted literature teachers.
He attended elementary and high school in Kermanshah, his father’s hometown.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Film Directing, Soore University, Tehran
- Master’s Degree in Dramatic Literature, Soore University, Tehran
And of course, his childhood was fascinated by photographs, negatives, cameras, the gramophone, tape recorders, and projectors, the objects his father loved and that were present in his home, in the Enchanted Island of Khark.
Director Statement
Childhood memories, the life of a family’s child, affection…
In my own childhood during the 1980s, the first eight years of my life passed under war (Iran–Iraq 1980). My classmates and playmates were sometimes killed at school, in the street, or even in the shelters
In the last three years of the war, my city, our homes, our schools even the collective shelters where some families had taken refuge together were bombed and destroyed. Entire families were killed at once. One of those shelters was the Tappeh Shirin shelter in Kermanshah
Now I am a father and a filmmaker
I love my children deeply. Very often, imagining their future the fears, the hopes, the bitterness and the sweetness pushes me into storytelling and daydreams. I always wish to tell them the best stories
Children do not understand what adults have built in this strange world especially war
Why must children die in wars created by adults?
Adults!!!?
I love my children, but I don’t know what I would do if one day I found myself in the very story I have written. I don’t know. Even as I write this note now, I take a deep breath thinking about such a situation makes me feel helpless
Perhaps this helplessness is why I made this film. It came from reading a short news story on the internet about Gaza a story almost identical to my own childhood memories
Poor childhood of mine, with such bitter memories
Poor children of Gaza what is left of their childhood?
Poor fathers and mothers there
Poor adulthood of mine living in a world where my childhood nightmares are happening all over again
This film is for life
For the children
For the fathers and mothers who do not know what to do to keep their children alive
And for the adults whose existence thrives on war on killing people, killing children
Adults…
So small
Veiled Life
Short | Drama | Duration 19:48 | Director | Narges Elahi (Iran)
A young architect returns to an old house for a renovation project, where buried memories from her childhood resurface, forcing her to confront a painful past and the trauma she has long tried to escape.
Director Biography
Narges Elahi is an Iranian writer and filmmaker. She holds an M.A in Dramatic literature from the science and research branch of Tehran university. Her first short film, fish dance, was screened at several international film festival and won several awards. Her second short film, Veiled Life, is the second installment of her female-centered trilogy. Filmography:
Fish Dance / Experimental / 2024
Veiled life / Drama / 2026
Director Statement
From my perspective, some of the memories we experience do not disappear over time; rather, the way we remember them changes. For this reason, certain painful memories from our past have such a profound impact on our psyche that they ultimately reshape our character. With each act of remembrance, even though we attempt to move beyond those events, we are unconsciously trapped in their repetitive and exhausting cycle.
As Sadegh Hedayat writes in The Blind Owl: “There are wounds in life which, like a canker, slowly consume and erode the soul in solitude. These pains cannot be expressed to anyone, because people are generally inclined to regard such unbelievable sufferings as rare and extraordinary occurrences”
work / memories of work
Short| Drama | Duration 21:35 | Director | Ektoras Arkomanis (United Kingdom)
The last days of a tannery in Eleonas, in Athens, are set against a backdrop of work in the surrounding neighbourhoods – scavengers’ markets, old farmhouses, abandoned kilns, people labouring away amid factory ruins and construction sites. Written on postcards which were never sent, the narration is a polyphonic poem with fragments of literature, testimony and collective memory that span centuries. They paint a portrait of Eleonas, a place with many identities – ancient olive grove, infrastructural hub, industrial zone, home to permanent and transitional populations. Throughout these transformations, Eleonas has always remained on the margins of the city’s conscience, eluding urban plan and official narratives.
Director Biography
Ektoras Arkomanis is a writer and artist working with film. His films and research examine urban areas that remain at the margins of history, planning and the city’s conscience. He uses film for its capacity to preserve and explore, but he is especially interested in what the medium omits, its inadequacy in describing things that are no longer there, and the narratives that are invented to fill these gaps. Ektoras is currently working on 'A Season in the Olive Grove', a long-term film/research project about the area of Eleonas in Athens. He has edited a volume titled ‘Migrations in New Cinema’ (Cours de Poétique, 2020) and he recently completed a collaborative installation, titled ‘Protea/Extraction’, which was commissioned by the Anti-Apartheid Centre of Memory and Learning. He teaches architectural history and theory at London Metropolitan University.
Director Statement
I discovered the area of Eleonas in Athens in the early 2010s, through a series of photos, which depicted dereliction but also compelling signs of human activity. I was surprised that this place existed so near the centre of Athens (where I grew up and lived for 20 years), and yet I had never passed through it before. I started filming in 2014, without a script, not knowing what I was looking for, only that I wanted to bear witness. I wrote down my observations to make sense of the place. I published some of them, and read whatever I could find about Eleonas and its history, which has been only scarcely recorded. Little by little, I got to know people, businesses and hangouts—always filming for a few days, then returning to my current home in London and viewing the footage. The more I filmed, the more I discovered: new corners and enclaves, past identities of the place, things that kept cropping up and disappearing. 'work / memories of work' is the record of 10 years of engagement with a place and its people, a reflection, a eulogy and a lament, with as little sentimentality as possible.