# Shayda (film)

Shayda is a 2023 Australian drama film written, directed and co-produced by Noora Niasari. The film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Mojean Aria, Jillian Nguyen, Rina Mousavi, Selina Zahednia, and Leah Purcell. The story follows an Iranian immigrant woman in Australia who is raising her young daughter as the two live in a women's shelter.
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2023, and was released in Australia on 5 October 2023. It was selected as the Australian entry for the Best International Feature Film category for the 2024 Academy Awards.

## Plot

Inspired by Niasari's childhood experiences, the story follows an Iranian immigrant woman in Australia who is raising her young daughter as the two live in a women's shelter, while also attempting to divorce from her abusive husband. It takes place during the Nowruz (Persian New Year) holiday period, sometime in the 1990s.

## Cast

The cast includes:
* Zar Amir Ebrahimi as Shayda
* Selina Zahednia as Mona
* Osamah Sami as Hossein
* Leah Purcell as Joyce
* Mojean Aria as Farhad
* Jillian Nguyen as Vi
* Rina Mousavi as Elly
* Eve Morey as Lara
* Lucinda Armstrong Hall as Renee
* Bev Killick as Cathy
* Jerome Meyer as Pierre

## Release

Shayda had its World Premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2023, where it won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. In February 2023, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film for North and Latin America, the Benelux, Eastern Europe, Portugal, the Middle East and Turkey. In August 2023, it was screened as the opening film in the Melbourne International Film Festival for its Australian premiere, and it closed the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. It is also scheduled for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Flash Forward' section and was screened on 8 October 2023.
The film was selected in country focus section 'Best of Contemporary Australian Cinema' at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival held from 5 December to 12 December 2023.
It was scheduled to be released in cinemas in Australia by Madman Films on 28 September 2023, before it was released by a week later on 5 October 2023. The film is scheduled to be released by Vertigo Releasing in the United Kingdom on 8 March 2024. It was released in the United States on 1 March 2024.

## Reception
### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 96 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "An understated yet impactful story of female empowerment. Shayda establishes first-time feature filmmaker Noora Niasari as a remarkably assured talent." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Shayda was selected, on 30 August 2023, as the Australian entry to the Best International Feature Film category for the 2024 Academy Awards in the United States.

### Accolades

Shayda won the CinefestOZ Film Prize Western Australia in September 2023, worth A$100,000. The prize is the largest cash film prize in Australia, and one of the largest in the world.
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Sundance Film Festival | 27 January 2023 | Audience Award – World Cinema Dramatic Competition | Noora Niasari | Won |
| Sundance Film Festival | 27 January 2023 | Grand Jury Prize – World Cinema Dramatic Competition | Noora Niasari | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | 10 February 2024 | Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film | Noora Niasari | Nominated |