Futility Season

An attempt to revive a friendship that has faded away due to circumstances that imprisoned one and forced the other to emigrate.
Neda, who lives in Iran, spent her thirtieth birthday in prison, and Hoda, the film director began her thirties in a new country as an immigrant.

Directed by Hoda Sobhani

Director’s Statement: I immigrated to the United States in early 2019 to study documentary filmmaking. Just a few months after my emigration, Neda, my best friend in Iran who is a women’s rights activist, was arrested during the International Workers’ Day protests on May 1st,2019. During the year she was in prison, bitter events occurred in Iran that exacerbated the difficult situation for both of us. After she was finally released, I decided to make this documentary based on our feelings at the time, when we were far from each other and from the people who experienced those tragedies.
I chose this story for the short film because it has the intimacy that a documentary needs, and at the same time the narration of these personal lives, which happens to be very political, speak to a broad audience. Neda and I have been friends for more than ten years and we have a lot in common. I made this film to start healing the trauma of being a foreigner in a new country and losing touch with my friend. I was searching to find a meaning for my home country, Iran. I came up with the idea of losing, losing my friends, my family, and my personal history. My friend chose to stay in Iran and she lost a year of her life because she was in prison. I chose to move to the US to live happily as a filmmaker, but I lost a year as well because there is no personal happiness.

Plays in

Visions & Voices of Iranian Women

This collection of disparate shorts—each unique in its own right—is held together by the glue of Iranian women…