Synopsis

“My Stolen Planet" is a diary-style narrative by Farah, an Iranian filmmaker. Born during the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, she captures moments of joy and defiance in her daily life, navigating the contrast between domestic freedom and external oppression. Simultaneously, she collects 8mm archives from people she doesn't know. Relying on others' recordings, she gains a new perspective on losing memories.

Her connection with Leyla, an Iranian professor who left Iran during the revolution, adds a name and story to one of her archive's faces. Farah's mother, suffering from Alzheimer's, motivates her to fight against forgetting. In the fall of 2022, the Women, Life, Freedom uprising became a turning point in Farah's life, as well as in the lives of many others in Iran.

This is a homemade history.

Farahnaz Sharifi Regissuer Portraitfoto farbig viereckig

director

Farahnaz Sharifi is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker and film editor who was forced to go into exile at the end of 2022. She has graduated from Tehran University in Cinema studies. Her films are mostly based on archives and she uses archive images and film to tell her stories. Farahnaz is also a well known film-editor in Iran. Her recent work as an editor is an acclaimed feature length documentary film “Radiograph of a Family” which won the Best feature length documentary Film Award IDFA 2020. Farahnaz has received many awards inside and outside of Iran including best film Award in Uppsala Short Film Festival and Fajr Film Festival in Iran. In addition, she was a jury member at IDFA 2021. Beside her career as a filmmaker and editor, she is also a writer and her book of short stories "Breathing in Open Air" has been published in Iran.

"To overcome challenging situations, such as living under a repressive regime, sharing our stories can be a powerful tool to resistance."

JURY STATEMENT ROMAN BRODMANN PRIZE 2024:

MY STOLEN PLANET is personal, political and poetic - Farahnaz Sharifi
succeeds in creating a unique aesthetic combination of image montage,
linguistic narrative and music. The result is a resonating space that
conveys great sadness and at the same time allows the audience a frightening realisation and deep emotional involvement.

Farahnaz Sharifi

"Archive is memory. Without memory, you are not able to remember who you are."