Firewall

Oscar-qualifying short · Watch trailer ↗

New Orleans Film Festival ✦ St. Louis International ✦ New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival ✦ Indy Shorts ✦ Austin Asian American Film Festival ✦ Dallas Asian American Film Festival ✦ Femme Frontera ✦ Beverly Hills Film Festival ✦ Big Texas Little Film Tour ✦ Harvard · Yale · Stanford · SOAS ✦ New Orleans Film Festival ✦ St. Louis International ✦ New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival ✦ Indy Shorts ✦ Austin Asian American Film Festival ✦ Dallas Asian American Film Festival ✦ Femme Frontera ✦ Beverly Hills Film Festival ✦ Big Texas Little Film Tour ✦ Harvard · Yale · Stanford · SOAS ✦

01Synopsis

Ani, an Iranian-American girl in Texas, longs for her father — lost behind the internet firewall of a politically turbulent Iran. When he mysteriously returns, ancient Persian mythology intertwines with her reality.

The first live-action, CGI adaptation of the Shahnameh — Ferdowsi’s thousand-year-old Book of Kings — set in a quiet house in Austin.

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این فیلم تقدیم به مردم مقاوم ایران

Dedicated to the resilient people of Iran

02Festivals
& honors

New Orleans Film Festival World premiere · Oscar-qual.
St. Louis International Film Festival Oscar-qual.
NY Int’l Children’s Film Festival East Coast premiere · Oscar-qual.
Indy Shorts International Film Festival Oscar-qual.
Austin Asian American Film Festival Austin premiere
Dallas Asian American Film Festival 2026
Asian American Showcase, Chicago Gene Siskel
Femme Frontera Film Festival El Paso
Beverly Hills Film Festival 2026
Maryland International Film Festival 2026
Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival 2026
Cinema Columbus 2026
The Front Festival, Austin 2026
Swedish International Film Festival Finalist
Shark Awards Color grading shortlist
NYICFF Kid Flicks National Tour 2026–27
Austin Film Society Grant 2023
Sundance Development Track 2nd round · ’25 & ’26

03Screenings
& talks

Jan 2026	Harvard Law SchoolHLS Advocates for Human Rights	Cambridge MA
Feb 2026	Vox PopuliScreening & Q&A	Philadelphia
Mar 2026	Yale UniversityMENACC · Council on Middle East Studies	New Haven
May 2026	Stanford UniversityPersian Student Association	Palo Alto
2026	SOAS University of London	London
Oct–Nov 2026	Big Texas Little Film TourNine towns, Borger to Lockhart	Texas
2025–26	Community screenings	Toronto · Austin · LA
2025	Mehregan Festival	San Antonio

04Press

The Big Texas Little Film Tour Is Coming Soon to a Town Near You Texas Highways Iranian heritage inspires project of Austin filmmaker KUT · Texas Standard Femme Frontera marks 10 years of uplifting border filmmakers El Paso Matters Inside the 18th Austin Asian American Film Festival CBS Austin Lights Camera Austin — interview KOOP 91.7 Firewall screening Harvard Law

05Credits

Written & directedBita Ghassemi

StarringEman Esfandi
Nazanin Nour

Executive producersKimia Aubin
Alex Constantin
Eman Esfandi

VFXD86

ColorCoffee & TV

Produced byPillarboxed
Movement House · The Bear
Streamwork Ventures · Manny Boy

Supported byAustin Film Society
New Orleans Film Society
MPS Camera & Lighting Austin

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pillarboxed.com