Paris-based company Alpha Violet has acquired worldwide sales to Mehrnoush Alia’s feature debut 1001 Frames ahead of its world premiere in Berlin’s Panorama strand.
The feature centres on an audition in a black box studio where a famous filmmaker is considering young women for the role of Scheherazade in a horror version of 1001 Nights (AKA Arabian Nights).
Gradually the process turns into something more disturbing as the questions become deeply personal, the camera more voyeuristic, and the arrival of the director’s ex-wife, one of his friends, and a mysterious woman confirms there is more at play. As the filmmaker’s demands cross more lines, the women fight back but are faced with more serious obstacles.
Based on true stories from numerous women interviewed by Iranian-American screenwriter and director Alia and hundreds of published accounts on social media, 1001 Frames offers a glimpse into the women’s lives, with dark stories of honour killings and abuse.
Iranian director, actor, and producer Mohammad Aghebati portrays the filmmaker and produced 1001 Frames with Alia for the US-Iranian Maaa Film, together with Sina Sharbafi for the Iranian-Swedish Distorted Pictured. His acting credits include Aliyar Rasti’s 2024 Berlin special jury award winner The Great Yawn Of History, and Asghar Farhadi’s 2021 Cannes Grand Prix winner A Hero.
Alia, a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University’s film school who wrote and directed the narrative shorts Faranak (2021) and Scheherazade (2015), said she made the feature to shed light on “pervasive gender-based injustices that have long festered behind closed doors in the entertainment industry and many other sectors”.
The writer-director continued, “The audition room, typically a place where dreams are born, is often tainted by the spectre of harassment, exploitation, and gender-based discrimination. At the same time, growing up in Iran I witnessed the harsh laws and restrictions that are imposed on women. The weight of these constraints is inescapable, often leading to feelings of suffocation. This film is my endeavour to shed light on these experiences, to amplify the stories that many endure in silence. But above this all, I hope it ignites conversations about the universal resilience of women in the face of adversity.”
Alpha Violet CEOs Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato said, “Mehrnoush Alia’s approach to tackle gender power issues in the framework of hard-hitting auditions of actresses really surprised us and created the immediate wish to be on board. We could not be more than happy to represent this conceptual movie with lots of guts.”
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