‘Silent House’ Director Farnaz Jurabchian on Her Fight to Leave Iran to Attend Festival Screenings
variety.comAddie Morfoot Contributor Hot Docs marked the first film festival that “Silent House” director Farnaz Jurabchian has been able to attend in-person since the documentary made its world premiere at IDFA in November.
For months Farnaz Jurabchian and her co-director/brother Mohammadreza Jurabchian were banned from leaving Iran, which prevented the duo from attending prestigious fests including IDFA, France’s FIPADOC, Brazil’s It’s All True and the Luxemburg Intl.
Film Festival. Iranian authorities considered the international partnerships that both directors formed in order to make “Silent House” a national security risk. “My brother and I weren’t able to leave (Iran) due to false and unfair accusations that were made against us,” Farnaz Jurabchian said. “We lost many opportunities that our film created for us due to the ban.” According to Farnaz, Iranian authorities “took issue with our artistic and cultural communication with international platforms (and financiers), which is a necessity and the basic right of every documentarian around the world.” In a recent turn of events, the travel ban against both helmers was lifted, which allowed Farnaz to attend the Hot Docs North American premiere of “Silent House” on May 3.
The docu recounts the lives of three generations of an Iranian upper-middle-class family from the perspective of Farnaz and Mohammadreza.
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