Streets of My Childhood
dir. Vessal Safaei
University of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Synopsis:
Streets of My Childhood tells the story of director Safaei and her best friend.
As they grew up and moved away from their home country of Iran, they learned to embrace a new culture and new people. But in June 2009, following the protests against the Iranian elections results, they were both left to question their happy and peaceful lives, far away from the troubled streets of Tehran. This film will show the signifiance of those horrific events, not to those who experienced them, but to those who miles away from Iran, were left to be a distant witness.
This is a film about the moment when you realize what you see on the news is not just another story; it’s your life.
Director:
A recent graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Vessal Safaei is an emerging documentary filmmaker with an interest for innovative and participatory story telling. Her studies in communication, journalism and documentary filmmaking, alongside her experience in community development, have inspired her to use creative filmmaking in hope of encouraging social dialogue. Her graduate film, Streets of My Childhood, has been a semi-finalist at the Angelus Film Festival as well as being selected for the F4 wing of the Australian International Documentary Conference. Vessal is currently working as a community videographer, documenting community projects run by various organisations including the National Gallery of Victoria.