Shahrzaad's Tale is the fourth feature film by award-winning director|producer Shahin Parhami, who is known for his creative documentaries on art and artists who are marginalized in the societies in which they live and work. He has already shot the film, and now he's ready to dive into the final stages of post-production to get this movie out into the world.

This documentary is not a typical sensational report on life and situation of a Muslim/middle-eastern woman that one sees everyday in western media. It is a sincere account, a sensitively illustrated and rendered portrait of a woman artist, who despite the unfortunate turn of events and calamitous circumstances has not given up hope and still thrives on artistic and intellectual endeavours. 

Through Shahrzaad’s story, this documentary will also shed light on parts of Iranian life, culture, and history that are still obscure to the international community, and reveal the tragic impact of momentous historical change on the life of a remarkable artist. 

Shahrzaad’s Tale is a story of a lost era and a forgotten star of pre-revolutionary Iranian cinema; a tale of a working class woman who struggled against all odds to become an icon in the mainstream popular culture of 1960s-70s Iran only to fall back into poverty and homelessness after the revolution. Shahrzaad’s Tale is also story of an accomplished poet, filmmaker and cultural critic who was tragically silenced by the political storms of the period. Like many artists in the entertainment industry, Shahrzaad was banned from the silver screen and TV.

Following the Revolution of 1979 when the film industry and its star-oriented culture became seen as a decadent, un-Islamic, westernized, amoral and corrupted form of entertainment. Shahrzaad’s fall from grace began shortly after the Revolution ...

Shahrzaad started her career as a dancer in her father’s small café in one of the old, poor neighbourhoods of Tehran but eventually was invited to dance in more upscale cabarets of the nation's capital. She preferred acting in theatre and joined one of the theatre groups of Tehran’s Lalehzar (Tehran’s equivalent of Broadway). Due to disagreement and a conflict with a theatre owner she moved back to the cabaret scene and ultimately was invited to perform in popular commercial movies of the time.  At the beginning she was mostly cast as an “item girl”, a necessary component of the café scenes of the “Film-Farsi” genre.

Shahrzaad’s first notable appearance was in Masoud Kimiai’s Qeysar (1968). Qeysar is considered one of the groundbreaking films of Iranian new-wave cinema. She played the role of a good-hearted sex-worker/cabaret dancer who provides shelter to Qeysar, the main protagonist.  

--Cover of Shahrzaad’s first poetry and second book, Thirsty We Age (1971) and Hello Sir. (1976)--

Along with her career in show business, Shahrzaad, an avid fan of Persian literature, also published three poetry books: Tooba (1968), Thirsty We Age (1971) and Hello Sir. (1976). Until the early 1980s she was also a member of the editorial board of the Persian name (Iranian Writers Association). By the late 70s Shahrzaad had also written and directed two films; one short, Maryam's Great Dream (1975) and a fiction feature, Maryam and Mani (1977). She also worked as a journalist writing commentaries on cinema and culture.

--Scenes from films directed by Shahrzaad's --

Why Your Participation Matters ?

What We Need & What You Get

"Growing up in Iran, I was exposed to Iranian popular cinema, the “Film Farsi genre of the 1960s-1970s. So as a child, fascinated by the silver screen, I became familiar with the actress Shahrzaad, who was then a regular star of such films. She always stood out to me as a very brave and strong woman. She usually did risqué scenes, and the characters she portrayed were mostly tough, street-smart, working-class women, like a cabaret dancer or a sex-worker with a golden heart."