Mariam Shahriar is an Iranian film director and scriptwriter who achieved critical acclaim with her first feature film '' Daughters of the Sun''.

Biography

Shahriar was born in Tehran. Originally intending to study architecture in Italy, she instead travelled to the United States during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

. She studied cinema at California State University, Northridge after watching

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

8½ ''8½'' ( ) is a 1963 Italian avant-garde arthouse comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on famous Italian film director Guido Anselmi ( Marcello Mastroianni) who suffers from writer ...

. After graduating, she moved to Rome, Italy and continued studying for her MFA at American University. She worked in the Italian film industry as assistant director and editor. She returned to Iran when her mother became gravely ill. There she was encouraged by famed Iranian director

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including s ...

to write a story for a film project and apply to become a member of the Directors Guild. The first script could not be filmed in time so she came up with the concept for her first feature film ''Daughters of the Sun''. ''Daughters of the Sun'', marks Mariam Shahriar's debut feature film. The story centers around Aman, a rural girl whose father, in a desperate bid to make ends meet, shaves her head and disguises her as a boy, sending her to toil in a rug-making workshop. In this workshop, she crosses paths with a female colleague who mistakenly believes Aman is a boy. This colleague soon finds herself falling in love with Aman and proposes they run away together to avoid being forcibly married off to a significantly older man. Aman now faces a critical decision, with little time to save either herself or her friend from the grim fate that looms. Daughters of the Sun won several major festival awards including Best Film at Montreal International Film Festival and Best Film at Bratislava International Film Festival. David Sterritt wrote that it is " ted as a drama, paced like a ritual, filmed as a slice of rural Iranian life." Sheri Whatley regarded the film as a courageous political act: "This portray of a woman with not only her head uncovered, but shaved is quite a brazen act for a director."

Filmography

* All My Dreams Come True (1986, short) * In Search of a Lost Dream (1986, short) * Mommy, Don't Cry (1987, short) * Lost Love (1990, short) * Angelica é una brava ragazza (1997, short) * Dokhtaran Khorshid / Daughters of the Sun

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahriar, Mariam Living people Iranian film directors Film people from Tehran Iranian women film directors University of California alumni Year of birth missing (living people)