Tell us a bit about yourself - all the basics! Where you’re from, where you grew up, interests, hobbies, siblings, causes you’re passionate about, anything else that comes to mind…

I was born in Iran in a Kurdish family and then grew up in Tehran. Since I was a child, I was very interested in books, writing stories and music. and in my childhood, I used to write and perform plays in school. My father used to tell me stories at night, the stories he used to tell were improvised and I imagined all of them and easily became a part of my father's stories. Maybe my interest in the story was formed from there.

How did you become interested in film?

Since I was a child, I wanted to make the world a better place. I wanted to make changes but I didn't know how. I gradually fell in love with the magic of cinema, I realized the power of the image since I was a teenager. This is what I was looking for and very soon cinema became my dream. At that time, the situation in Iran was accompanied by severe censorship and many restrictions for women, and compared to now, the situation was very difficult. But I had made my decision. With great difficulty, I could start studying cinema at Tehran Sooreh University and one of my biggest dreams came true. That year, only 14 sudents from the whole of Iran were accepted in the field of cinema.

How did you arrive at the subject of your Close Up project?

I have been working as a journalist and documentary maker for many years, I immigrated to Sweden eight years ago and did a master's degree in Media and Communication. I am focused on humanitarian issues and crises in the Middle East and I have worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and many other countries in the area. “I am an olive tree” project started in 2019.The city of Afrin and parts of northern Syria were occupied by the Turkish army in 2018. I have been closely following the civil struggles and revolution of the Kurds in northern Syria for years and I wanted to see this region closely. After the occupation of Afrin, I traveled to the region. The experience of this trip changed my life, one of the most modern civil revolutions was going on in the Middle East and it was wonderful to experience it up close. After the occupation of Afrin, people fled to a camp near Aleppo. Traveling there was a difficult task, surrounded by various groups such as the Syrian regime, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Turkey and radical Islamic groups, and this danger had removed the area from the reach of the international media and journalists. I told the Kurdish forces that I wanted to go there. They took me there with great difficulty and after finding different stories, I followed this story and I think I am making one of the best films of my life.

If you weren’t a filmmaker, what might you be? What did you want to do or be growing up?

I cannot imagine myself to be anything other than what I am now. A filmmaker and journalist.

Other than documentaries of course, what’s your favorite film genre and why?

I also have the experience of making experimental films, the experimental film is a big and fantastic world that you can imagine and tell stories to infinity and this is great.

What has influenced your work as a filmmaker the most? A person, an educator, another filmmaker, a film itself, an experience, etc.?

What has had the greatest impact on me are the experiences I have gained in my travels. Seeing people and their stories around the world, I think we need to hear stories in life. In difficult moments of life, stories can be saving and inspiring.