1001 Frames_main

Paris-based Loco Films has boarded worldwide sales on Mehrnoush Alia’s feature debut 1001 Frames ahead of its world premiere in Berlin’s Panorama strand.

The feature was previously with French sales agent Alpha Violet, who said it withdraw after a disagreement.

1001 Frames will debut on February 15 and 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).

The process becomes something more disturbing as the questions asked of the auditioning actors 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.

The feature is based on actual stories from numerous women interviewed by Iranian-American screenwriter and director Alia and hundreds of published accounts on social media, offering a glimpse into the women’s lives, 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 Pictures.

Alia 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.”

Loco Film’s Laurent Danielou praised the film’s “powerful dramaturgy by a courageous first-time director with a highly original take on contemporary issues”.

 

Topics