AZITA DAMANDAN

Azita Damandan started her journey as a writer with writing short stories (which been published in one of the two major daily newspapers in IRAN). After being offered to publish her first novel by the same paper, she stopped writing it as she suddenly discovered the world of image in cinema. Azita started making short films without any academic training (self-trained). All of her short films won national awards and then later acknowledged internationally.

Meanwhile she worked as first director assistant in films and tv series accompanying many creative well-known directors including Asghar Farhadi – Oscar winner Iranian director. Waiting for her feature film screenplay approval and to search for a producer in Iran she ended up working as a journalist for 7 years (including writing and chief editing a magazine for Iran Red Crescent) followed by another period of filmmaking for big organizations like Ministry of Health and UNISEF before leaving Iran. Winning her last award in Iran as the best director for another of her short films led to a documentary about her in Italian TV by Carlo Damasco. In Australia she had to start from scratch. Making eight short films (Lullaby-winner in Nurses short film festival 2009, Silence; 2013, “Untold; 2017”, Unseen, 2020, “Mourners; 2020, “Way out; 2020”- all official selected and winner of awards internationally, “Mirror; 2023”, “The Sour Grapes; 2023” and work in progress feature documentary Break a leg Charlie, Talk! she tried to find her ground.

While searching for her network in a foreign land she kept her passion alive with re writing her big project “The writer’s last story” working on it since 2003, shooting documentaries, creating stories, and making commercial videos for her company Red Geranium Productions. Feature anthology “Mourners” containing 5 short poetic stories with common thread of indirect effects of dictatorship and governing of oppressed regimes around the world on innocent people is her first feature film.
While still adjusting more historic events happening in Iran with the new revolution; “woman, life, freedom” in her semi biography feature screenplay “The writer’s last story” she has started writing her third feature script “Bahar”.