My Stolen Planet

Filmmaker Farahnaz Sharifi, born during the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, leads a double life. Under the strict regime of the country’s religious leaders, she realizes at age seven that there is one identity for at home and another in public. Since then, she has lived in two worlds, two different “planets”. In one, dancing is allowed, while in the other, it is forbidden. In one she wears a hijab, while in the other she doesn’t have to.

In this diary-style documentary, Sharifi reflects on her split life. In the leading role, she casts not only herself, her family and friends, but also countless strangers, whose lives seep into the story through home videos she has managed to find in Iran.

Sharifi edited and narrated the IDFA 2020 award-winning Radiograph of a Family, also based on archive material. In her own directorial debut My Stolen Planet, which has already picked up prizes at the Berlin and Thessaloniki festivals, we again hear her pleasant voice, this time narrating the story of the women of Iran for whom the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in 2022 became a turning point in their lives.