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EXCLUSIVE: Rise and Shine World Sales has acquired sales rights to the documentary A Sisters’ Tale ahead of its international premiere Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In the documentary, Iranian filmmaker Leila Amini trains a lens on her sister Nasreen, a gifted singer-songwriter who hopes for nothing more than to share her music with audiences. But Nasreen’s dream collides with bitter reality in Iran where the country’s Islamist rulers have decreed that women cannot perform in public.
A Sisters’ Tale premiered last month at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, an event attended by Rise and Shine co-founders Stefan Kloos and Anja Dziersk.
“We saw the film at the world premiere in Locarno and were spellbound,” Kloos and Dziersk said in a statement. “It is a delicate, yet really powerful voice out of Iran by an Iranian female filmmaker who lets us witness the restrictions that women are suffering from. We are so happy that we were able to sign a global world sales deal with the producers prior to the International Premiere at TIFF.”
The film was produced by Iranian director-producer Afsaneh Salari at Docmaniacs, known for her 2019 film festival hit The Forbidden Strings, and Vadim Jendreyko at Mira Film, known for directing the award-winning The Woman with the 5 Elephants (2009) and for his producer credits on Blue Note Records (2018) and Taming the Garden (2021).
The sales deal, negotiated between Kloos and Dziersk and Mira Film’s Jendreyko and DocManiacs’ Salari, covers all territories except for Switzerland.
“Nasreen has starlike charisma and gives Leila access to all her highs and lows,” TIFF’s chief documentary programmer Thom Powers writes in the festival program. “We see her striving to fulfill her artistic ambitions while navigating the needs of her two children, her marital tensions, and patriarchal pushback at every turn. Nasreen frequently clashes with her husband over her music and his nighttime absences.
Powers adds, “When Nasreen sings, her voice radiates beauty, power, and poetry that reshapes the world in her own vision. The film showcases a splendid inner life shining bright against an embattled outer world.”
Amini spent seven years working on the documentary.
“My sister Nasreen once filled our home with her beautiful voice,” she writes in a director’s statement. “However, she stopped singing when pressured to marry Mohammad. Over the years, Nasreen dedicated herself to being an excellent wife and mother. Yet, Mohammad primarily saw his role as working outside the home, leaving Nasreen longing for the simple joys and affections of married life.
“When Hana was born, Nasreen confided in me, ‘I’m growing old, and I’m terrified. My only achievement in life is being the mother of two kids.’ I sensed a significant change in her. She decided to pursue her lifelong passion for singing, even though singing in public is forbidden for women in Iran.”
Amini continues, “Over seven years of filming Nasreen, I closely witnessed her journey to free her voice as a singer and a woman. From a vulnerable homemaker, she gradually transformed into a woman in control of her own destiny. Nasreen’s emancipation has inspired fundamental change for her children, for me, my younger sister, our mother, and hopefully for our country.”
A Sisters’ Tale screens at TIFF on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, as well as Sunday, Sept. 15, the festival’s concluding day.
“’Women united in Song’ could be the logline of this captivating film,” Kloos and Dziersk tell Deadline. “In a country where women are not allowed to sing in public, Leila Amini shows her sister – mainly in her apartment in Tehran – in her ambition to let her beautiful voice be heard. A wonderful metaphor for the strive for freedom of Iran’s women.”
Rise and Shine World Sales describes itself as “one of the world’s leading boutique sales agents for high quality documentary films. With the team of Stefan Kloos, Anja Dziersk and Diana Karklin, they count on a 15-year+ track record in sales and distribution.”
Recent Rise and Shine titles include E.1027 – Eileen Gray and The House By The Sea, Son Of The Mullah, Forest, Watching You – The World of Palantir and Alex Karp, The Day Iceland Stood Still, Of Caravan And The Dogs, Nelly & Nadine, Into the Ice, Girl Gang, and the Oscar-nominated short documentary Haulout.
