Shayda, Australia’s submission to the Oscars for Best International feature, is a powerful and heartwarming story of an Iranian woman trying to escape an abusive relationship.
It’s hard enough to get out of a domestic violence situation, but it’s harder yet if you get no help from your family (her mother says she should stay), or from your patriarchal Persian community which dictates a woman be in servitude to her husband.
But Shayda bravely gets herself and her six-year-old daughter Mona to a shelter in Melbourne where she is supported by Jackie, the safe house’s director, who helps her build a case for divorce.
When the court system grants her husband Hossein visitation rights, he re-enters their life, stoking Shayda’s fear that he won’t bring Mona back and will attempt to take her to Iran. She teaches Mona survival methods in case Hossein tries to abduct her. As long as her husband has access to Mona, every day seems rife with danger and endless uncertainty, which derails Sayda’s newfound sense of freedom and safety.
The movie is drawn from the real experience of filmmaker Nora Niasari’s mother, who left her husband when Nora was a child. It’s a portrait of a woman’s courage and resilience in the face of overwhelming pressure to endure violence, stay hidden and live unfulfilled.
Shayda plays at 5 p.m., Saturday, April 6, at the Classic.