Home, Interrupted
Losing a home can make us cling to small signs of comfort and security, awakening a fragile sense of belonging beyond fixed places. Home is often imagined as a site of safety, yet under pressure it can fracture, becoming unstable through lived experience rather than a single event. This program brings together short films that reflect on the fluid meaning of home. Some are rooted in personal histories, others in close observation, but all arise from realities shaped by constraint and memory. Watching these films together makes clear that the violence unleashed in January 2026 was not an isolated rupture, but the continuation of years of repression. For a long time, the people of Iran have resisted systematic violence and pursued freedom at great cost. We stand in solidarity with the Iranian people and their calls for freedom.
Together with filmmakers: Parisa Aminolahi Sahand Sarhaddi Sara Rajaei Shervin Vahdat Taraneh Esmailian Payam Azizi Elli Safari Film Director & Producer- City of Poets – Writer and Director: Sara Rajaei / Producer: near/by film
In a small, semi-utopian city, all the streets are named after poets. When war begins, new neighborhoods emerge to accommodate the refugees. Soon the citizens find themselves lost amid the memories of the forgotten poets.
City of Poets has been awarded the Winner of the European Short Film – Prix Vimeo 2026 .
- Karun The Longest River of Iran – Writer & Director: Sahand Sarhaddi
On September 22, 1998, the Iranian poet Hamid Hajizadeh and his nine-year-old son Karun, whose name symbolically refers to Iran’s longest river, were brutally murdered in their home in Kerman.
- A Place to Call Home – Written and Directed by Parisa Aminolahi
After a journey through Iran, Wales, and the Netherlands, a father and his two daughters settle in a large house in Sweden. They feel lonely and disconnected as they struggle to adapt to their new environment.
- With Confidentiality – Producer and Director: Shervin Vahdat, Payam Azizi
This film is about the women of a village who have written a confidential letter to government institutions.
- Almost Intangible – Writer & Director: Taraneh Esmaeilian
In an acting audition, a married couple are asked to improvise.
