by
Maaman Rezaee
Film Specs
Runtime: 14 minutes
Year of Completion: 2018
Country/Countries of Production: USA / Iran
Language(s): Persian
About
An Iranian girl believes she has killed her grandmother. As she deals with her guilt, her parents steal the body in the middle of the night to perform their prohibited religious rituals.
Maaman Rezaee
Director
Maaman Rezaee is a Los Angeles–based Iranian filmmaker whose work explores memory, political inheritance, and belonging, often threaded with dark humor. Born and raised in Iran, her early life as a political prisoner and member of a persecuted minority continues to shape the urgency and perspective of her storytelling.
Her debut feature script “Ashes” won the 2024 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition, which also advanced in other major competitions: the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition and NBC’s Launchpad Feature Competition. Rezaee just directed a proof-of-concept short based on this feature.
Rezaee’s other short “Evanescence” won the Programmer’s Award at the 2024 Virginia Film Festival and screened at LA Shorts, Santa Fe International, and deadCenter.
Rezaee is a current participant of American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women+ and holds an MFA in Film from Temple University.
Artist Reflection
What inspired this film?
I grew up in a Baha'i family. I remember as a kid, I was always confused about what made us so different that we were called "dirty" and kept at a distance at school. I was an imaginative kid and lived in my own world and the world outside was that much scarier because I didn't understand it. The main character in the film is similar in that way.
At the time I was writing this script, there were similar situations in real-life, where Baha'i families were not allowed to bury their dead and many of their cemeteries in different cities were destroyed. As we’ve seen over the years, it’s one of the regime’s tactics to repress descent. Even in death you get no peace. This was a little ode to that community and that little girl.
What was the most challenging thing about making this film?
I think it was shooting Philadelphia for Tehran. I was still on the east coast then. The actors flew in from New York and Los Angeles and the community came together to help us make it. Which is funny, because at the time I thought, “This is too tough. Why am I doing this”? And ironically this summer I directed another film, Ashes, and shot LA for Tehran.
What do you hope audiences carry with them after watching?
I tried to tell a tragic story from the point of view of a child, to make it more palatable. The film depicts how some families are not even afforded the chance to grieve the death of loved ones. This film was specifically about a Baha'i family but the situation has also been true of many other Iranian families who have lost loved ones in the hands of the IRGC and are not allowed a proper burial or a moment to grieve. Everyone in the story is occupied with something that's secondary to the love they had for grandma. And I hope the audience feels that loss of not being given the chance to grieve properly.
What's next for you?
I just directed a short film through the American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women (DWW+) The film Ashes is based on a feature script with the same name that won Slamdance Screenwriting Competition. It's a thriller dark comedy about an Iranian-American woman who goes back to Tehran to bury her mom and dig up an old relationship in the middle of an uprising. I had a lot of fun making it with a lot of friends– old and new– from the Iranian community, including Niousha Noor, Maryam Mehrtash, Tara Grammy, Nadia Mohebban, Payam Banifaz, and Reza Diako. The list continues. We’re in post-production now. I’m excited for the world to see the short film and hopefully to get the proper resources to develop the feature.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
It’s honestly a bit scary to share Family of Too Many with you. I directed it years ago and my sensibilities as a director are different now. But it also holds a very special place in my heart and I really hope your audiences enjoy it.