Alireza Mohammadi Rouzbahany
Iran
2022
82
minutes
Farsi
spoken
English
subtitles

PUBLIC SHOWING on Sunday April 2 @ 10:00AM

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Elementary School screening on Thursday April 6 @ 10:00AM – registration here

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Shafa is not like most girls her age, she saves animals, defends smaller kids, and races motorcycles against the boys– refusing to abide by the cultural expectations thrust upon her. In Iran, on the Island of Singo, she lives with her single father, older sister and younger brother. Their fishing village has a strict hierarchy between men and women, and many unfair rules and standards. This order is mostly enforced by the richest man in town, Barat Khan. Shafa seems to be the only one who sees that he uses his power and influence to his own advantage. By chance one day, Shafa’s dad catches some very rare horseshoe crabs, whose blue blood is worth a lot of money. This catch will benefit everyone in the community, and of course in his perceived benevolent altruism, Barat Khan steps in to manage the deal and distribute said wealth. Shafa has other plans– no one is killing these living creatures on her watch. That evening she releases them back into the ocean, and later wakes up to an angry town that has turned on her father for losing the crabs. To make things right, Shafa heads out on a dangerous, solo ocean journey to find the craggy island these crabs are said to inhabit. Now Shafa has gone missing too and the stakes are even higher. Will Shafa be able to find her way back and save her family’s reputation?

Themes: justice, animal rights, women’s rights, community, friendship, family, structures of power
Advisory: a father threatens to hit his children in a fit of rage, depictions of some violence, a child makes risky decisions that could endanger her and/or others
Feature film recommended for age: 11+

 

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