Noora Niasari

Noora Niasari
Born1989 (age 36–37)
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active2011–
Notable workShayda (2023)

Noora Niasari (Persian نورا نیاسری; born 1989), sometimes formerly spelt Nora Niasari, is an Iranian-Australian film director based in Melbourne. She has made many short documentary and narrative films, and is best known for her debut feature film, Shayda, released in 2023. She is a co-founder of Parandeh Pictures.

Early life and education

Noora Niasari was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1989. Her family emigrated to Brisbane when she was young[1] and she was raised in Australia.[2] One of Niasari's earliest memories from her childhood was her time spent living in a women's shelter in Australia. Her mother left an abusive relationship and the persecution of the Islamic Republic to try and better her and her daughters' lives. Noora spent eight months there, aged five.[3] Her mother introduced her to films by Iranian filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami's Where Is the Friend's House? and Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon when she was a child, which sparked an interest in cinema and informed her about life in Iran.[1]

Niasari initially studied architecture at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), graduating in 2010.[4] While she was there, she attended a short film workshop in Wales, UK, run by professor, artist, and architect Richard Goodwin, during which she interviewed migrant residents of a council housing block in Cardiff.[5] She has said that she is grateful for her architectural education, as it "informs so much of how I write, in terms of moving through space, how it influences us and creates a narrative structure".[5]

Shortly after this she turned to filmmaking, starting with a series of documentary short films.[5] In she 2014 completed a Masters in Film and Television (Narrative) from the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne University).[4][6][2]

Career

In 2011, Niasari made a short documentary in Beirut, Lebanon, called Beirut, Under the Bridge,[7] or just Under the Bridge. The film looks how Beirut's public transport terminals had changed between the 1975 Lebanese Civil War and the present. The film was screened at the Beirut International Film Festival (BIFF). Niasari's first name is listed as "Nora" in the credits of this film[8][4] and others.

In 2013, she made a short narrative film, 17 Years and a Day, which also screened in the ME Shorts section of BIFF.[4][9]

In 2014, as a student at the VCA, Niasari made the short film Simorgh (The Phoenix), has as its subject Manouchehr Farid, a well-known actor in Iran who featured in films directed by Bahram Beyzai such as the 1972 film Downpour.[1] This was his first screen appearance in 35 years.[5] In the film, Farid teaches drama to teenagers inside an Australian detention centre.[10] The film screened at many Australian and international film festivals in 2015, including the 64th Melbourne International Film Festival (in the Accelerator program for emerging directors), the 14th Dhaka International Film Festival,[11] the 4th Persian Film Festival Australia,[7] and the fourth Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival, among others. It won the Cinema Nova and New Voices Awards in the 46th Annual Graduate Film School Awards at the VCA, and was nominated in the 2015 Australian Director's Guild Awards in the "Best Direction in a Student Film" category. The film is available via the VCA Film & Television archive.[11]

Niasari's mother had introduced her to Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's films when she was a child, which sparked an interest in cinema. Years later, in 2015, she studied under Kiarostami in a filmmaking workshop in Barcelona, Spain.[1] Kiarostami encouraged her to explore hre relationship with her father, which she had not done before.[5]

Casa Antúnez (Antúnez House; 2017) was Niasari's first long-form[a] documentary film as writer and director. It was selected for screening in the 2017 Sheffield DocFest, where she earned a nomination for the New Talent Award.[7] Also in 2017, her narrative short Waterfall, funded by Screen Australia's Hot Shots Program and produced by Fete Films, screened at the 7th edition of the Persian Film Festival Australia, which is presented in cinemas across Australia.[7]

Niasari's debut feature film Shayda (2023), which she wrote and directed, stars Iranian-French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, along with Australian actors Leah Purcell and Osamah Sami (who had been a friend for 10 years[5]) in supporting roles, and most of the dialogue is in Farsi. The story is based on Niasari's memories of living at the women's shelter as a child, and features Persian cultures and traditions, including Nowruz (Persian New Year), with its theme of renewal and rebirth.[3] The film was executive produced by Cate Blanchett under her Dirty Films company.[13] It had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the World Dramatic Competition. It was also selected as Australia's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.[14]

Niasari has been working on a second narrative feature, Raya. The film is based on a book of the same name by Mahsa Rahmani Noble, a work of historical fiction about Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Queen of Iran from 1951 to 1958.[15]

As of September 2025 she is based in Castlemaine, Victoria.[16]

Parandeh Pictures

Niasari is co-founder of Parandeh Pictures,[17][16] which co-produced Shayda.[18] She founded the company in order "to champion cross-cultural and regional narratives".[16]

Recognition and accolades

Blanchett said in an interview about Shayda in 2023: "Vincent and Noora had been developing Shayda for some time and they brought it to us toward the end of the development process to help secure financing and key cast members... We knew this story was strong and had perspective unlike any Australian film we had seen before. It's an intensely personal and domestic scenario but the story Noora drew out of it, we felt had wider cultural resonances. Noora's short films [17 Years and a Day, Tâm] proved she was a visceral filmmaker with an emotionally rich point of view".[13]

Niasari has earned many awards and nominations, including:

Footnotes

  1. ^ 53 minutes[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Niasari, Noora (24 May 2022). "The eternal student: Noora Niasari on Abbas Kiarostami". ACMI: Your museum of screen culture (Interview). Interviewed by Gunawardana, Dilan. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Noora Niasari". Chamber Made. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b Niasari, Noora (5 March 2024). "Noora Niasari Interview: Shayda, Freedom, and the Nature of Light". Paste Magazine (Interview). Interviewed by Feldberg, Isaac. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Jamali, Peyman (21 October 2014). "17 Years and a Day" (audio). SBS Language. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Russell, Stephen A. (16 September 2023). "Director Noora Niasari". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 19 September 2025. This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on September 16, 2023 as "Poetry of renewal".
  6. ^ Niasari, Noora (6 December 2023). "Female Filmmakers in Focus: Noora Niasari on Shayda". RogerEbert.com (Interview). Interviewed by Gates, Marya E. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Noora Niasari". Persian Film Festival. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Under The Bridge". Beirut International Film Festival. 17 September 2025. Archived from the original on 17 September 2025. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  9. ^ "17 Years And a Day". Beirut International Film Festival. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  10. ^ "The Phoenix (2015)". Screen Australia. 10 June 2024. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d The Phoenix (Simorgh). Nora[sic] Niasari. 2015. Drama on YouTube Uploaded 30 March 2020 by VCA Film & Television.
  12. ^ Antúnez House at IMDb
  13. ^ a b Lodderhose, Diana (25 January 2023). "Cate Blanchett & Zar Amir-Ebrahimi Discuss Sundance Pic 'Shayda' & Its Iranian Perspective: "It's Important To Let Women Talk About Themselves And Make Movies About Their Own Female Journey"". Deadline. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  14. ^ a b c Ma, Wenlei (1 October 2023). "Shayda director Noora Niasari on family violence, Iranian liberation and taking her first film to the Oscars". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Princess Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari". Bakhtiari Family. 22 June 1932. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  16. ^ a b c "Team". PARANDEH PICTURES. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  17. ^ Release, Press (31 August 2023). "Australia Selects Sundance Prize Winner Shayda For 'Best International Feature Film' Submission To The Academy Awards". The Curb. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  18. ^ "SHAYDA". Dirty Films. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  19. ^ Bergenson, Samantha (8 March 2023). "28 Rising Female Filmmakers to Watch in 2023". IndieWire. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  20. ^ "Sony Pictures Classics takes Sundance award winner 'Shayda '". Screendaily. 14 February 2023. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Awards". Australian Directors' Guild. 4 July 2023. Archived from the original on 19 July 2025. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  22. ^ "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2023". Directors Guild of America. 10 January 2024. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  23. ^ Slatter, Sean (3 September 2023). "Noora Niasari's 'Shayda' wins $100,000 CinefestOZ prize". IF Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  24. ^ Keating, Rebecca (26 August 2021). "Every reason you need to go to CinefestOZ Film Festival in magical Margaret River". Urban List. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  25. ^ Kornits, Dov (18 March 2024). "2023 Film Critics Circle of Australia Award Winners Announced". FilmInk. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  26. ^ "Noora Niasari". University of Technology Sydney. 24 April 2025. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
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