Watching Shayda, it’s clear why Australia submitted it for Best International Film at the 2024 Oscars. This is a deeply gripping drama about an Iranian mother who with her young impressionable daughter takes refuge in a women’s shelter after her husband, for whom the family uprooted from Iran to Australia, becomes physically abusive. A jury-prize winner at Sundance, Shayda collected glowing reviews when it opened the Melbourne Film Festival. The film stands out from cursory movies about women’s shelters by portraying residents helping one another to heal. It is hardly surprising given how real the story feels to learn first-time director Noora Niasari based it on her mother.

UK 2023 (117 minutes)