Maydegol
Sarvnaz Alambeigi
2024
About Film
An Afghan teen girl, with immigrant parents in Iran, strives to pursue her dream of becoming a professional Muay Thai boxer despite her family’s conservative mindset, enduring physical abuse, and anti-immigrant surroundings. Working day and night, she finances her Thai Boxing classes without her family’s knowledge. Through this sport, she aspires to succeed in the ring and overcome life’s obstacles. Maydegol portrays the perseverance of Generation Z to escape their seemingly bleak destiny, asserting their rights, especially as women, seeking freedom in life despite the risk of losing it. It also serves as a mirror for them to recognize their strength, find inspiration, and gain confidence.
About Director
Sarvnaz Alambeigi is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist best known for documentary filmmaking and painting. After graduating from Graphic Art School and studying painting at the University of Art and Architecture in Tehran, she received film training from 2013 to 2018 at Documentary Campus Masterschool and Danish Film School. In 2013, she founded her own film company, Rabison Art. In June 2017, her short documentary Cypher and Lion, was released at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2021, the project for her upcoming feature film Maydegol won Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director at the 64th edition of DOK Leipzig. In 2021, she was awarded the prize for best pitch at the Sunny Side of the Doc Global Pitch. She was later selected as a jury member for the 2022 season of prizes. Her documentary 1001 Nights Apart, released in 2022 in Germany won the VFF Documentary Film Production Award at DOK.fest Munich. It was shown in cinemas across Germany in 2022 and on TV channels such as Arte, SVT, TVO, and Avrotros. She is a member of Film Fatales, The European Women's Audiovisual Network, and the Association of Iranian Documentary Cinema Directors.