Cate Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner and all-around Hollywood icon, will be absent from the premiere of Noora Niasari’s Shayda, which she helped produce. In a show of support for the SAG-AFTRA strike, Blanchett has announced that she won’t be attending the movie’s premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 12th. While Niasari and the leading stars of Shayda will still be attending the event, Cate Blanchett has decided to honor her commitments to SAG-AFTRA as a member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Actors’ Council.
Shayda first hit the world stage at Sundance 2023 in January, where it won the Audience Award as a part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The movie follows Zar Amir Ebrahimi (White Paradise) as the titular Shayda, an Iranian mother who flees to Australia with her six-year-old daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia). Intent on escaping an abusive relationship with her husband, Shayda and her daughter find themselves in a women’s shelter and attempt to start anew as Persian New Year approaches. However, when visitation rights herald her husband’s return to their lives, Shayda’s fears threaten to become reality.
As per the Sundance Film Festival website, Shayda draws on Noora Niasari’s personal experiences with her own mother, whose life inspires Shayda’s own. Sundance called the movie “a beautifully crafted, poetic vérité portrayal of courage and compassion” headed by Ebrahimi, who “captures the vulnerability and confliction, but also the radiant soul of an Iranian woman who boldly reclaims her human rights: to divorce her husband, keep her child, and dress as she chooses.”
Cate Blanchett Announces Her Decision Not to Attend ‘Shayda’ Premiere at Locarno
With all of its praise, the premiere of Shayda at the Locarno Film Festival is sure to be an attention-grabbing event, but despite this – or possibly because of it – Cate Blanchett has decided to be absent from the premiere. Giving a statement to Deadline, Blanchett explained her decision as follows:
“As [an] executive producer I couldn’t be more proud of Shayda, the remarkable debut feature from Iranian/Australian Noora Niasari, starring the extraordinary Zar Amir Ebrahimi… I celebrate the work of the whole filmmaking team and am thrilled that the film can be seen at the closing night of the glorious Locarno Festival next week. As a dedicated member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Actors’ Council I have made the difficult but necessary decision not to attend at this crucial time.”
Prior to this announcement, Blanchett was also scheduled to moderate a panel at Locarno ahead of Shayda‘s premiere. It is unclear how her absence will affect these events if it has any effect at all. At any rate, Shayda‘s Locarno debut will still take place on Saturday, August 12th.
