Interview:
Bita Ghassemi,
writer/director,
"Firewall"
With the father-daughter narrative short Firewall, Austin-based filmmaker Bita Ghassemi employs the Persian myth of Zahhak the Serpent King to draw parallels to Iran’s current oppressive theocratic regime. Ani, an Iranian-American preteen girl in Texas, longs for her father to return from his trip to Iran. She occupies her time reading a pop-up book called “Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King Book” by Hamid Rahmanian and Simon Arizpe. The book recounts how Prince Zahhak murdered his father, becomes an immortal with serpents growing out of his shoulders, and ruled Mesopotamia with an iron fist for 1,000 years before an uprising ended his reign of terror. As the story unfolds, and with her father’s words of wisdom in her head, Ani begins to understand the nature of evil and how it can be vanquished. Firewall stars Ayla Farmand as Ani, Eman Esfandi as Ani’s father, and Daniel Ricaud as Zahhak the Serpent King. Firewall will screen at 5:25 p.m. June 25 at the AFS Cinema as part of the Austin Asian American Film Festival’s Texas Shorts Block. Born and raised in Austin, Iranian-American filmmaker Bita Ghassemi previously directed the shorts Maryam Joon and My Friend Shokat and co-edited Things That Happen In The Bathroom.
Aired: June 24, 2026. Web sites: https://www.bitaghassemi.com/ https://www.aaafilmfest.org/film-event-schedule-2026/texasshorts |
|