Hoda Taheri
Directing
Biography
Hoda Taheri (born 1992), is an Iranian artist and filmmaker based in Berlin. In 2016, she received her bachelor's degree in visual communication and professional Design from Limkokwing University in Malaysia. Due to acting, and participating in controversial film projects, she fled to Germany in 2018. After moving to Berlin in 2019, she started studying as a Film Director at DFFB (Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin). Her first short film Mother Prays All Day Long (2022) was awarded a Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival and was nominated for the German Short Film Award. Her second short film, As If Mother Cried That Night (2023), premiered in Locarno. Her debut feature film, I'll Plant My Hands in the Garden, is currently in the development stage. It is a co-direction project with Boris Hadžija and was selected by Locarno Residency in 2023.
Known For
Confused between German bureaucracy and questions about sexuality, Hoda, an Iranian asylum seeker in Berlin, finds herself emotionally and sexually hooked on Magdalena, who promised to grant her asylum by marrying her. Due to changes in Magdalena's private life, the decision of marrying Hoda becomes more complex for her.
Mother Prays All Day Long
Hoda, an Iranian refugee in Germany, lives with her boyfriend, Hadi. An unexpected pregnancy leads her to examine common beliefs regarding gender roles in a relationship and challenges the current social norms surrounding feminine bodies and motherhood.
Mother Is a Natural Sinner
Living in the confinement of a shared apartment with her controlling mother, Narges is soon confronted with the traumatic situation that women face under patriarchy. A sensitive, brave account about womanhood in modern-day Iran.
Out of Frame
An Iranian couple clings to parenthood as a possible means to stay in Germany, unraveling a web of uncertainty and sacrifice in their desperate quest for asylum.