SHAYDA, the highly anticipated feature debut from award-winning writer-director Noora Niasari, had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award in World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Shayda, a brave Iranian mother, finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardised.