Gelareh Kiazand

Preserving Taste

In the era of food sustainability, Hanif Sadr, an engineer turned chef from Tehran, Iran, has opened his first Iranian regional restaurant in San Francisco, USA. He delved into the farm-to-table gastronomy world after working as a cook for a Montessori school in Berkley. His mission is to introduce the regional and seasonal recipes of Northern Iran, learnt from his childhood to the North American public where its ingredients geographically match California. With his wife banned from the US and a lack of distribution of Iranian food ingredients due to sanctions, he travels back and forth between Iran and the U.S., attempting to bridge the personal and political to bring back a taste of home. Alongside other renowned food figures, Hanif aims to show the depth of a unique forgotten cuisine that is connected with nature, influenced by seasons, and defines the art of preservation techniques.

Desert One

The true story behind one the of most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution.

And the blue sky

An intimate documentary shedding light on the life of veteran Iranian actor, Ezzatollah Entezami.

The Tale of Pomegranate

Pomegranate, the city flower of Xi'an, was introduced to China from Iran during the Han Dynasty. Based on the pomegranate, this documentary shows a deep reflection on the intrinsic connection between the two cities of Xi'an, China and Isfahan, Iran, through the perspectives of an Iranian professor of history and a Chinese documentary filmmaker. At the intersection of tradition and modernity, it links the historical heritage and spiritual commonalities between China and Iran, and deepens the understanding of the history and modernity of the two cities from a new perspective.

Angels of the House of Sun

Angels in the House of Sun remains one of Rakhshan Banietemad’s most articulate critiques of the treatment of women in contemporary Iranian society. Male-on-female violence is an all-too-common occurrence in Iran. It’s part of a wider exploration of gender imbalance that permeates so much of Banietemad’s work. Here, the filmmaker journeys into the backstreets of one of the poorer districts of Tehran, to a shelter where women can find safety, community and a sense of belonging with others who understand their situation – whose lives have been marked by suffering and humiliation.