Sepide Berenji, poet, writer, director, teacher, and head of the Majara Film School, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran and a Master’s degree in Cinema. Her short film “Raya” has been selected for major Iranian short film festivals and over 40 international festivals, including prestigious ones such as the 60th Zlín Film Festival (one of the oldest and most significant children’s and youth film festivals in the world), the 46th Atlanta International Film Festival (Oscar-qualifying), the 38th Ale Kino Film Festival, the 22nd Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, the 49th Sehsüchte Festival (the most important student film festival in Europe), and the 37th Schlingel International Film Festival, among many others. The film won the Best Short Fiction Film Award at the 30th Divorcine International Children’s and Youth Film Festival and received an honorary diploma for Best Actress at the Nahal Film Festival. Her latest film “Zaaghi”, produced by Behnam Behzadi, is currently screening internationally.
Film synopsis: Raya, a nine-year-old girl, and her family are forced to leave their home, but Raya believes that sometimes there is no way out of things.
Redcut: How did you decide to step behind the camera and become the storyteller of your own thoughts, starting your career as a director?
Sepide Berenji: Before making films, I was active in the world of literature, particularly poetry, but gradually I felt the need to see and hear my poems, to turn my mental images into cinematic reality. Slowly, the cinema became my home. In that home, I could create the most playful and imaginative images that had haunted me for years, images that I didn’t know what to do with but suddenly found their place in cinema. Additionally, filmmaking provided an opportunity to create characters that I know and believe in—especially children, teenagers, and women who live in my imagination and whom I try to bring to life in cinema.
Redcut: In “Raya”, we see teenage girls wandering the streets wearing masks. How did this idea come to you, and how important was the relationship between the body, women, and urban restrictions in this film?
سپیده برنجی
Sepide Berenji: These teenage girls, all of whom were my students at the school where I taught, were meant to be a real rebellious group, complete with the characteristics and tools every group like this needs: masks, maps, gum, music, and tools for causing trouble. I knew above all else that they were supposed to rebel and challenge their teacher as a representative of authority, but they also needed to avoid being identified. At first, I only thought about how the masks would not only present them as a rebellious group but also prevent their identification. It’s interesting that you mentioned the representation of women and their relationship to the city and urban restrictions. This issue was something I was deeply preoccupied with while making this film. I made “Raya” my thesis for my cinema degree, and my thesis paper was about the interaction between feminine gender and urban spaces. So, this subject was definitely important to me, but it took on more complex dimensions during the film’s production. Although it was initially planned for Raya not to wear a headscarf at home, on the first day of filming, when we shot the first scene of the kids running in the park, they were all wearing scarves. I felt something was wrong, so I asked them to take off their scarves. Without the scarves, they looked more like themselves in real life. It reflected the daily rebellion that these kids, like many others, had against the educational system and compulsory hijab. They run through the streets, laughing, making faces, and wrecking their teacher’s car, as if they own the streets. But they also have to wear masks because they’re afraid of being recognized and not being allowed to act so freely. Raya, however, breaks this game when, at the end of the scene, she takes off her mask and thoughtfully observes the result of their actions.
Redcut: In the film, we encounter a generation striving to expand their imaginations beyond the socially imposed rules and reach their ideals. How did you arrive at this form of storytelling?
Sepide Berenji: As I mentioned, I was a schoolteacher for years and observed this generation closely. They truly have the capacity and courage to turn their imaginations into reality, and in this process, they are more skilled than previous generations at thinking critically and challenging their own thoughts. I remember once walking down the street, and by chance, I put my hand in my pocket and found a small piece of paper. It was from one of my class exercises at school. On the paper, one of my students had written, “I can change everything.” I recall shivering when I saw this sentence in childish handwriting and genuinely believing that they could change everything. I witnessed this truth many times throughout my teaching years. They understand that the role of the teacher is not sacred and can be challenged. They know they can protest, express their ideas and thoughts freely, not limit their imagination, and ultimately, they know how to ask good questions and strive to find the answers. I tried to bring all of this together with the image of my own childhood in my mind to tell this story.
Redcut: What’s hopeful in the film is this young generation that aims to change the structures and practice imagination in a disillusioned and depressed society. How was it working with teenagers and children in the film, and how did you manage to narrate from their perspective and worldview?
Sepide Berenji: I think I more or less answered this in the previous question. Working with these kids was very easy and enjoyable for me. They were my students, and I knew them very well. I even wrote the script from the start with the idea that Raya would play the lead role, and she was exactly like Raya in the film—intelligent and capable. So, the name of the character, the name of the film, and even the concept of the film were all inspired by Raya and the rest of my students. They were so smart and enthusiastic that even though none of them had ever thought about acting before, they managed to perform their roles beautifully. Perhaps the closeness of the script to their own world made it easy for them to find themselves in the film.
Redcut: Do you have a new project or film in progress? Tell us about your new film. Have you returned to the world and imagination of children and teenagers?
Sepide Berenji: Yes, last year I made a new film called Zaaghi which is now in the distribution process. Zaaghi is also about a teenage girl and, like Raya, takes place in a world between reality and imagination. However, Zaaghi leans more toward magical realism than fantasy. Like Raya, Zaaghi is a free-spirited and proactive girl who offers a hopeful proposal for life, but it takes place in a much darker world than Raya. The mental world of children and teenagers is one of my main concerns in filmmaking, and I think I will be focusing more on this world and its characters in the future.
