Polaris (film)

Polaris is a multi-cultural feature film based on a script written by Soudabeh Moradian and Naghmeh Samini starring Bahram Radan, Alicja Bachleda, Coby Ryan McLaughlin and Roya Teymourian. Polaris portrays a young immigrant journalist, half Iranian-half German, who suffers from PTSD. This is a movie made by women and about women. The writers, producer, director, editor and most of the key crew members behind the scene were women.[1] Polaris first premièred at TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX in Toronto as part of the 2016 CineIran Film festival.[2][3] It won the best picture at the Culver city Film festival (2016) and the California Women Film festival (2017) where it was nominated for the best director and best actress as well . Polaris had a limited theatrical release as part of a tour organized by Cinelibre and Zurich IFF across Switzerland in 2017.[4]

Polaris
EnglishPolaris
Directed bySoudabeh Moradian
Produced by
  • Christina Jo'Leigh
  • Mahdi Davari
Screenplay by
Starring
Music byKaren Homayounfar
CinematographyPierluigi Malavsi
Edited byCecily Rhett
Production
company
  • Cinematic Artistry
  • Sahara Pictures
Release date
  • October 16, 2016 (2016-10-16) (Toronto CineIran Festival)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Persian

Plot

A psychologically traumatized war photographer (Alicja Bachleda)is locked in a desperate struggle with her husband (Bahram Radan)to protect her secrets and escape her inevitable return to the Middle East.[5]

Cast

Production

Principal photography started in November 2014 in Los Angeles, followed by filming in Seattle and wrapped in 14 days.[7] Polaris which is the first US-Iran collaboration was unable to get Iran's governmental permission to be released inside Iran. After two and half years, the government issued a tentative permission for a "limited release" and Polaris finally began an arthouse theatrical release in Iran on December 12, 2018.[8][9]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the CineIran film Festival in Toronto - Canada on October 15, 2016.[10] Shortly after, Polaris had its US premier at the Culver City Film Festival (Los Angeles) in December 2016 and won the best picture.,[11][12] Following that, in January 2017, Polaris was nominated for three awards at the California Women Film Festival in Los Angeles: The Best Picture, The Best Director and The Best leading Actress and won the best picture.[13] The other festivals in 2017 that showcased Polaris including: Silicon Beach Film festival, Iranian Film Festival in Zurich and Long Beach indie Film Festival. During Jan and Feb 2017, Polaris had a tour of theatrical screening across Switzerland. The tour was organized by CineLibre and Zurich Iranian Film festival.[14] Polaris also started a limited arthouse screening on December 12, 2018 across Iran.

References
  1. "About Polaris on Movieblogger.com"
  2. CineIran Screening news
  3. "Cineiran website"
  4. "Polaris announcement for screening in Switzerland"
  5. Polaris Imdb Page
  6. Polaris trailer featuring Elisabeth Röhm
  7. "About the production and its awards"
  8. "Screening announcement"
  9. "Interview with the director in Iranian newspaper". Archived from the original on 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  10. CineIran 2016 Screening Schedule
  11. "Film review on MaxitMagazine.com"
  12. US-Iranian Indy Film Wins Culver City Film Award
  13. "Polaris review on Microfilmmaker.com"
  14. "Screening announcement by kinocameo in Switzerland
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