Mashhad Directed by Sarah Solemani 2025 · 19 min · United States · Persian
A spirited young ghetto girl in 1930s Iran is naive to the great lengths her family must go to keep their identity a secret. An innocent day of play with a neighborhood friend puts her family’s life in jeopardy. Set in the holy Islamic city of Mashhad, the film tells the story of the Mashhadi Jews, who, after the 1839 Allahdad, lived a double life for one hundred years. Muslim by day. Jewish by night. Jadid al-Islam – the New Muslims. What unfolds is an extraordinary story of religion as oppression, faith as survival, and a retelling of Iran’s long-lost ethnic group.
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THE FILM’S JOURNEY
Mashhad world-premiered at HollyShorts 2025 at the TCL Chinese Theatre. A theatrical run at the Laemmle Monica Film Center qualified the film for the 98th Academy Awards Live Action Short — one of 207 eligible titles.
In Los Angeles, Tiffany Haddish hosted a screening at the Museum of Tolerance. Mamie Gummer hosted a screening at Reboot Studios. The film is now streaming exclusively on ChaiFlicks.
