Maryam Shahriar

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Mariam Shahriar (born 1966) is an Iranian film director and scriptwriter who achieved critical acclaim with her first feature film Daughters of the Sun.

Biography[]

Shahriar was born on Nov. 7, 1966 in Tehran.[1] Originally intending to study architecture in Italy, she instead travelled to the United States during the Iran–Iraq War. She studied cinema at California State University, Northridge after watching Fellini's 8½.[2] After graduating, she moved to Rome, Italy and continued studying for her MFA at American University. She worked in the Italian film industry as assistant director and editor.[1]

She returned to Iran when her mother became gravely ill. There she was encouraged by famed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami to write a story for a film project and apply to become a member of the Directors Guild.[2] The first script could not be filmed in time so she came up with the concept for her first feature film Daughters of the Sun.[2]

Daughters of the Sun, filmed in 2000, about a rural girl whose father shaved her hair and dressed her as a boy to work at a rug-making factory, won several festival awards including Montreal Award for the Best first fiction film.[3] David Sterritt wrote that it is "[a]cted as a drama, paced like a ritual, filmed as a slice of rural Iranian life."[4] Sheri Whatley regarded the film as a courageous political act: "This portray of a woman with not only her head uncovered, but shaved is quite a brazen act for a director."[5]

Filmography[]

  • All My Dreams Come True (1986, short)
  • In Search of a Lost Dream (1986, short)
  • Mommy, Don't Cry (1987, short)
  • Lost Love (1990, short)
  • Angelica é una brava ragazza (1997, short)
  • Dokhtaran Khorshid / Daughters of the Sun (2000, feature)

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Maryam Shariar". International Film Festival, Rotterdam. January 25, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Maryam Shahriar Comes Out of the Sun". FilmFestivals.com. June 27, 2001.
  3. ^ "Awards of the Montreal World Film Festival—2000". Festival des Films du Monde. 2000.
  4. ^ "New Releases". Christian Science Monitor. July 30, 2004.
  5. ^ Whatley, Sheri (March–April 2003). "Iranian Women Film Directors: A Clever Activism". Off Our Backs. 33 (3/4): 30–32, at 32. JSTOR 20837786.
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