Ambition: Noora Niasari

We wanted to explore how the Trust's support provides momentum to our grantees' careers.

So, we asked, ‘How has your grant and the professional development opportunity it supported impacted your ambition?'.

Tehran-born, Australian-raised, Noora Niasari is a filmmaker who inhabits the role of writer and director. In 2017, supported by an Emerging Artist grant, Niasara undertook a six-week writing residency at the Can Serrat International Art Residency in Spain. The residency offered Niasara the time and space to develop her storytelling and screenwriting craft in a supportive and focused environment, which she utilised to concentrate on completing the first draft of Shayda, a feature film screenplay.

“The highlight was doing a public readthrough of the opening scenes of my screenplay to a room of writers from around the world, both from Can Serrat and a partner residency that visited that day. After six weeks of isolated writing, it was extremely gratifying to read those words aloud to an audience and receive a positive response from writers from completely different cultures to my own.”

“I felt a wonderful connection with complete strangers through storytelling. It gave me confidence moving forward and, ultimately, a great affirmation that my story had universal elements and a wide-reaching audience.”

Five years on from her grantee experience, Shayda, Niasara’s screenplay turned feature film directorial debut has garnered critical acclaim around the world. In January 2023, Shayda premiered at Sundance Film Festival, opening the World Cinema Dramatic Competition – one of 12 films selected globally for the category.

Set in 1990s Australia, Shayda tells the story of its eponymous character, a young Iranian woman finding refuge in a women’s shelter with her 6-year-old daughter during the two weeks of the Iranian New Year (Nowruz). The film received praise from reviewers for its deeply affecting storytelling and went on to win the coveted Sundance Audience Award (World Cinema Dramatic), voted by festival attendees.

Shayda’s creation was a long-standing goal and long-term project for Niasara. Reflecting on her journey over the past five years, from screenplay to debut feature film, Niasara emphasised the importance of balancing ambition with consistent self-care.

“Every step of making this film provided new lessons and experiences. I think, above all, it made me realise the importance of self-care, especially when telling a story such as this. As artists and filmmakers, we put so much heart and soul into our work, but we must be vigilant with protecting those things too so we can continue to make meaningful work without experiencing burnout.”

Following its success at Sundance, Shayda screened at film festivals in Australia and abroad and was acquired for distribution in North America and Europe by SONY Pictures Classics. In August 2023, Shayda was selected as Australia's submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards.