Farnoosh Samadi and Ali Asgari premiere ´THE SILENCE´ at Cannes

THE SILENCE directed by Farnoosh Samadi and Ali Asgari will have its world premiere on May 21st in Cannes in the official short film competition. The film was produced by Giovanni Pompilli of the Italian production company Kino Produzioni and co-produced by Olivier Chantriaux from Filmo. The short film is in the running for the 2016 Short Film Palme d’Or of the 69th Festival of Cannes. THE SILENCE is the story of young kurdish refugee Fatma that has to announce to her mother, her serious medical condition. Instead of translating the truth, Fatma remains silent.

"We moved to Italy for university and as migrants we had several experiences that inspired us to make this film. We chose to tell a simple story about communication because it has a symbolic meaning for us. We believe that the use of language has an important function for the human beings to communicate, but in the context of immigration, it plays even a more essential role." directors Farnoosh Samadi and Ali Asgari explain. "In this short film, we wanted to depict the universe of migrants and their confrontation with a new life after arriving in a new country,“ adds Farnoosh Samadi. "We focused on migrant children as we believed that they are silent witnesses of what is happening around them.“ Take a look of the teaser of the film through this link.

Producer Giovanni Pompilli says: "Producing THE SILENCE has been for us a political and essential act. Migration issues, borders and social introduction are not at the center of the global political debate but are in fact relegated to crime news. THE SILENCE gives food for thought on the meaning of welcoming and sharing through the gentle and poetic view of the directors.“

About the directors 
Farnoosh Samadi was born in Iran and graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Rome. She started her career as a filmmaker at the Iranian Youth Cinema Society and after that she made several video installations. Ali Asgari was born in Tehran, Iran. He studied and graduated with a degree in cinema in Italy and began his career as an assistant director. He's an alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus 2013. 

They wrote two short films together MORE THAN TWO HOURS directed by Ali which was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes 2013 and THE BABY which was premiered in Short film competition at Venice Film Festival in 2014. Their first feature film script was accepted at the Cinefondation Residence of Cannes Film Festival. 

Screenings 
Saturday 21 May @ 11:30 (Théâtre Debussy) – Official screening
Saturday 21 May @ 16:00 (Théâtre Buñuel)