My Stolen Planet
Farahnaz Sharifi
My Stolen Planet is a diary-style account by Farah, a filmmaker born in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In a collection of 8mm films, she compiles moments of joy and resistance, highlighting the contrast between inner freedom and external oppression.
By contacting Leila, a university professor who left Iran during the revolution, a face in Farah’s archive is given a name and a story. Farah’s mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, also motivates her to fight against forgetting. Then, in autumn, the Zan-Zendegi-Azadi movement begins, marking a turning point for many Iranians.
»When we share a memory with others, it transforms from private to public. The history of Iran is closely intertwined with the resistance against forgetting. At a time when those in power are striving to tell this history in their own way, deliberately obscuring important events, it is even more important to share the small, personal stories.«
(Farahnaz Sharifi, director)
Farahnaz Sharifi
Farahnaz Sharifi is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker who has been living in Germany since 2022. She studied film studies in Iran. Most of her films are characterised by a creative use of archive material. She is also a well-known film editor. Farahnaz has received numerous awards at national and international level and has been involved as a filmmaker, editor and jury member at many leading international film festivals, including the Berlinale, Venice Film Festival, IDFA, Sheffield DocFest and Uppsala International Short Film Festival. In addition to her career as a filmmaker and editor, she is also an author and her book of short stories, Breathing in Open Air, has been published in Iran.
