When filmmaker Noora Niasari was five years old, growing up in Australia, she and her Iranian mother lived in a women’s shelter. ‘It was just one of those experiences that really shaped me,’ she explains over Zoom, when we connect to talk about her stirring feature debut Shayda. Gradually, she decided it was something she needed to explore on screen. ‘I knew that I wanted to see this story come to life, from an authentic, truthful place, and I felt that I was the only person to do that, given my lived experience.’

Back in 2017, Niasari began to craft the script, needing the help of her mother who dredged through her own memories to shape the story, even writing a journal of her time in the shelter. ‘She gave me the gift of being able to tell this story with her approval and with her collaboration. That six-month journaling process was incredibly cathartic for both of us. I discovered so much about her and our story that I didn’t know, because obviously I only knew it from my five-year-old point of view.’

The result is a powerful semi-autobiographical tale that deals potently with issues of domestic violence and the support that women can offer each other. Shayda (played by Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi) is an Iranian immigrant in Melbourne who escapes her abusive husband Hossein (Osamah Sami). Together with her young daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia), she finds refuge in a secret suburban shelter overseen by the kindly Joyce (Leah Purcell). But when her spouse returns on the scene, difficulties arise.

The union between Niasari and Ebrahimi, who won Best Actress in Cannes for her role as the investigative reporter in Holy Spider, remains the film’s high point. It was fellow actress Golshifteh Farahani (‘my beautiful best friend’ as Ebrahimi puts it) that first introduced them. Before she had won her prize in Cannes, the actress put herself on tape. ‘She was in Australia. I was in Paris,’ Ebrahimi continues. ‘And as she says, from the very beginning, from that first tape, she just felt “this is Shayda.”’

Niasari nods. ‘I’m pretty sure we auditioned every single Iranian woman in Australia, but we couldn’t find her . . . honestly, within the first 15 seconds of seeing Zar’s tape, I knew she was Shayda. I knew she was everything I was looking for. And more. She brought so much to the role that it’s beyond the words on the page. And so I’m really grateful to Golshifteh for making that suggestion. I think that Zar’s performance is really the heart of the film and she anchors every single scene.’

Winning the Audience Award in the World Cinema dramatic section at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Shayda also comes produced by esteemed Australian actress Cate Blanchett and her husband , through their outfit Dirty Films. ‘They’ve been an incredible support and champions for the film,’ says Niasari, who met with Blanchett over Zoom when they first talked about the project. ‘She was so generous with her time and had a really deep connection to the story . . . as a woman.’

Indeed, Shayda may deal with the specifics of Iranian marriage and divorce, but the film has a universal quality; not least because Shayda meets other women who have been forced to escape terrible domestic situations. ‘It’s not about culture or religion,’ says Niasari. ‘It’s about the patriarchy and the controls that are constantly hanging over women in a way that’s incredibly violent and harmful. And it’s a true epidemic in Australia. Around 60 documented women were killed by their partners [in 2023]. So it’s an alarming statistic and we need to do more about it.’

While the film may be set over the Persian New Year, Niasari makes sure to show other women in the shelter, including Lara (Eve Morey), a British mother who hasn’t seen her son in more than two years. ‘For me, these characters are all victims, of the situation or condition of that society; or all these societies we are living in,’ says Ebrahimi. ‘In this story, it’s not only about Iranian people or Iranian society. I know some French people who are the same . . . this misogyny with a patriarchal mindset. So it’s not only about those women in shelter; they’ve all suffered.’

Although Niasari didn’t allow her mother on set a great deal (bar a cameo in one uplifting dance-infused scene), Ebrahimi did get a chance to spend time with her. ‘It’s funny because her mother is a very different person to the Shayda I created. She’s so strong. And she said “Zar, you just brought too much emotion to this character.’’’ Nevertheless, the emotion she brings (especially as Shayda develops an intimate friendship with her friend’s cousin Farhad, played by Mojean Aria) feels exactly right for the character. 

Certainly, the effect on audiences, both male and female, has been staggering. ‘I had middle-aged men weeping after screenings; it wasn’t just women,’ says Niasari, who experienced some touching reactions. ‘There was a woman in Utah who told me she was a shelter worker there and how the film spoke to the survivor community in Salt Lake City. She had knitted a scarf for me and she put it over my neck and thanked me with tears in her eyes. It was a very emotional moment.’

Even Niasari felt the film’s power. Despite the long process of scripting, ‘the catharsis only really happened when the film was done,’ says the director, who even had a therapist on set to help her. ‘The performances were so real and strong; there were days where I would just go back to that triggered feeling and that small child, and I’d have to step away, have a cry, have a break. But then I immediately had to come back and direct actors and be a leader. So I felt like I was living in a double life.’ Thankfully, like her mother, she’s proved what a survivor she is.

Shayda is in cinemas from Friday 19 July.