New trailer and release date unveiled for Noora Niasari’s Shayda

Zar Amir Ebrahimi in Shayda. Photo by Jane Zhang.

Madman Entertainment has today revealed the trailer for the Australian drama Shayda, the much-anticipated directorial debut from Iranian-Australian writer/director Noora Niasari. The film will be released in cinemas nationally on 28 September 2023. The release follows its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January where Shayda won the World Cinema Audience Award, and its upcoming Australian Premiere on 3 August, when the film will open the Melbourne International Film Festival.

In Shayda, a young Iranian mother and her six-year-old daughter finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowrooz) which is celebrated as a time of renewal and rebirth. Aided by the strong community of women at the refuge they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities, only to find themselves facing the violence they tried so hard to escape.

Shayda is an incredibly accomplished directorial debut from Tehran-born, Australia-raised Noora Niasari. Noora is a writer-director and co-founder of Parandeh Pictures and her short films and documentaries have screened at film festivals from Beirut to New York.

Shayda is produced by Vincent Sheehan and Niasari, executive-produced by Cate Blanchett and it stars Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) alongside Osamah Sami, Leah Purcell, Jillian Nguyen, Mojean Aria & Selina Zahednia.

An Origma 45 production produced in association with Dirty Films and Parandeh Pictures, Shayda received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with The 51 Fund and was financed with support from VicScreen and the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Premiere Fund.