Tatami | |
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Directed by | |
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Produced by |
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Cinematography | Todd Martin |
Edited by | Yuval Orr |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | XYZ Films (US) |
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Running time | 105 minutes [1] |
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Languages | Persian, English |
Tatami is a 2023 film directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, from a screenplay by Nattiv and Elham Erfani. It stars Arienne Mandi, Ebrahimi, Jaime Ray Newman, Ash Goldeh and Sina Parvaneh.
It had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2023, receiving positive reviews from the critics and audience.
The film follows Iranian female judoka Leila (Arienne Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), who travel to the World Judo Championships, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. This includes a possible encounter with an Israeli athlete, something that the Mullah regime prohibits. Midway through the competition, Leila and her coach receive repeated threats from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and drop out of the tournament. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila faces a difficult choice: feign injury and comply with the Iranian regime as Maryam implores her to do, or defy them both and fight on, for the gold. [2]
With Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi as co-directors, the project marks the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker. [3] [4] It is produced by Adi Ezroni and Mandy Tagger Brockey, alongside Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman from New Native Pictures. [5]
WestEnd Films acquired international rights in February 2023. [6] Other production companies involved in the project include White Lodge Productions, Maven Pictures, Tale Runners and Sarke Studios. [7]
In February 2023 the cast was revealed to include Arienne Mandi and Amir Ebrahimi in the lead roles, with appearances by Jaime Ray Newman, Nadine Marshall and Mehdi Bajestani. [8]
In February 2023 the film was revealed by the Hollywood Reporter to be in post-production. [9] First-look images from the film were released in May 2023. [10]
It had its World premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2023. [11] and its Asian premiere at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival [12] on October 25, 2023. It was also screened in the 19th Zurich Film Festival [13] on October 2, 2023. In February 2024, XYZ Films acquired US distribution rights to the film. [14]
Mehdi Bajestani is an Iranian actor. He is best known for his performance as Saeed Hanaee in the crime thriller Holy Spider (2022), for which he earned a Robert Award nomination, a Bodil Award nomination and a German Film Award nomination.
Saeed Hanaei or Said Hanai was an Iranian serial killer.
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Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, known professionally as Zar Amir Ebrahimi, is an Iranian-French actress, producer and director. She rose to international prominence for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahimi in the crime thriller Holy Spider (2022), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and Robert Award for Best Actress.
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Mina Khosrovani, known professionally as Mina Kavani, is an Iranian-French actress. She is best known for her role in No Bears (2022), which won the Special Jury Prize at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
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Guy Nattiv is an An Israeli film director, screenwriter and producer who lives and works in the United States. His film Skin won an Oscar for best short film at the 91st Academy Awards. As of May 2021, Nattiv and Moshe Mizrahi are the only Israeli directors who have won an Academy award. In 2019, he received IFF Achievement in Film Award at the 33rd Israel Film Festival.
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Arienne Mandi is an American actress best known for playing the lead character Dani Núñez in The L Word: Generation Q. She has played minor roles in Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Agent X, NCIS: Los Angeles. She played the lead character, an Iranian judoka "Leila Hosseini" in the 2023 political-thriller "Tatami". She also played Francesca "Franki" Murray in Love, Classified (2022).
Holy Spider is a 2022 Persian-language crime thriller film co-produced, co-written and directed by Ali Abbasi, starring Mehdi Bajestani and Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei, a serial killer who targeted street prostitutes and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran, the film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating a serial killer.
Beyond the Wall is a 2022 Iranian drama film written and directed by Vahid Jalilvand, and produced by Ali Jalilvand. The film stars Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi and Amir Aghaei. Beyond the Wall had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on 8 September 2022.
Shayda is a 2023 Australian drama film written, directed and co-produced by Noora Niasari. The film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Mojean Aria, Jillian Nguyen, Rina Mousavi, Selina Zahednia, and Leah Purcell. The story follows an Iranian immigrant woman in Australia who is raising her young daughter as the two live in a women's shelter.
Rodeo is a 2022 French drama film written and directed by Lola Quivoron. The film stars Julie Ledru as Julia, a young woman living in social housing who has a poor relationship with her mother; passionate about the sport of motocross, she tries to gain the opportunity to participate in the sport by posing as a buyer on shopping websites so that she can take bikes out for test rides. As she becomes drawn deeper into the urban motocross scene, however, she begins to participate in a motorcycle theft ring.
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