Ziba (Beautiful)

A successful boy who is under the pressure of modernity and family falls in love with a lady who is ten years older than him with walking disabilities.

  • Benyamin khodabandeh
    Director
  • Benyamin khodabandeh
    Writer
  • Benyamin khodabandeh
    Producer
  • Mobin Dehvari
    Key Cast
    "Matin"
  • Asiyeh Malekzadeh
    Key Cast
    "Zeynab"
  • Naser Shojazadeh
    Key Cast
    "Matin's Father"
  • Fatemeh Mehraban
    Key Cast
    "Soraya"
  • Faramarz Monajati
    Key Cast
    "Mobin's Friend"
  • Zeynab RasouliZadeh
    Key Cast
    "Ziba"
  • Freshteh BozorgZadeh
    Key Cast
    "Girl in the Library"
  • Parviz Raisi
    Key Cast
    "Ziba's Father"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    زیبا
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance
  • Runtime:
    26 minutes 33 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 18, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Country of Filming:
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Language:
    Persian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Sadat
Director Biography - Benyamin khodabandeh

Benyamin Khodabandeh was born in 2004 in saravan, Iran.
From 2018 He worked on many projects solo, meaning from brainstorming the idea of production to grading and mastering the film all in one project with zero budget and no income.
he is a high school student in an irrelevant field of study and he never went to film school.
because of being in a Deprived area of Iran, he is still working alone on most projects all by himself and he mostly worked as Director, Writer, and cinematographer.

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Director Statement

In my nation, most parents are extremely sensitive about the marriage of their children.
It's not so often to see some gentleman is getting married to an older lady, and society and parents do not accept this kind of thing easily.
Also, I believe that some mothers are saying things that are not good for even female society and lots of people see female person and wife as a tool, as something to be in the order of the man but I do not believe in that.
When they see a female person as a tool, someone with a disability is just being seen useless.
This film does not be told directly this way but characters are written with these issues and problems and dialogues are in complete contrast to show how tools like a female person are being seen and how people talks are more important even more than the decision-making of the person itself.
although I'm a minority in my country Iran and I believe modernity is here and it affected lots of lives but I believe that these beliefs have not penetrated deeply and all this is only superficial in most minds.
I wrote the story to be attractive for every kind of audience, to show these issues in a hidden language, not in a specific direct language, to see how ugly these words look when we see them from outside, how selfish these terms are.
I made this film with a minimum of equipment and I did every technical aspect of the film myself because of limitations in every direction I had but I'm happy that this story is being told.