SEASONS
This the migration of pistachios from Iran to California, through the story of an Iranian American boy learning the legacy of his own family’s unique involvement with the crop for four generations. An exploration of the forces that move people and shape places, focusing on a single variety of pistachios from a small town in Iran that has come to dominate the world market. Pistachios take 6 years to bear nuts, and the film will follow a young boy who at age 5 plants this variety of the tree that has its origins from his great, great grandfather’s farm in Iran. He watches the tree grow at his orchard in California for six years until its first harvest. All the while the child grows to learn the important themes of life such as new beginnings, patience, perseverance, prosperity, scarcity, climate change and adaptability as he follows his own tree every season, caring for it until it is old enough to bear its first fruit. His young tree in the US and the centennial grandfather tree in Iran are symbols of migration and powers of nature.
IN THIS MOMENT (2024)
Life and legacy of Parvin Arasteh Amin
Directed by Bita Shafipour
Produced by Chris Boyd
Running Time: 90 minutes
MADAM NOSRAT (2022)
A 93 year-old Iranian immigrant living in Los Angeles recites her life story from growing up in Yazd in 1920’s to moving to the Los Angeles and reviewing her choices and regrets to her five children during the last year of her life. During her last birthday celebration, she receives a lifetime achievement award from congresswoman Maxine Waters for her cultural efforts for Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles.
Directed by Bita Shafipour, Produced by Mark Amin, Co-Producer Chris Boyd
Running Time: 60 minutes
LAYERS: THE ART OF HADI SALEHI’S PHOTOGRAPHY (2020)
Trailer - LAYERS: THE ART OF HADI SALEHI’S PHOTOGRAPHY
LAYERS portrays the poetic style of Hadi Salehi’s analog photography. Through a series of captivating conversations with the artist, and an exploration of his experimental process, award-winning director Bita Shafipour taps into Hadi’s layers of consciousness and maps out a visual narrative of the creativity that shapes his rich and diverse body of work. Using Hadi’s photographs and archival film footage, captured in dozens of countries and including thousands of subjects, this art film visualizes Hadi’s life as an Iranian immigrant in Los Angeles, dodging the Iranian Revolution, surviving the post Hostage Crisis ICE raids and deportations, and finally becoming an accomplished artist in a city where he has been capturing stories and making images over the past four decades. Shot primarily on 16mm film, Shafipour aims to pay tribute to Hadi’s creative process and the art of analog photography through her own analog filmmaking. Co-Produced by ADVOCARTSY.
Produced by Bita Shafipour and Chris Boyd
Running time: 30 minutes
Premiered at LA COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART, 2020
Winner of Best Documentary award at Fine Arts Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection Diversity Film Festival, 2021
Distributed by Crypto-Fiction in the Uk and The Big Pieces in the US and other territories
