Desert Dancer
for thematic elements, some drug material and violence.
| Moral Rating: | not reviewed |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults Teens |
| Genre: | Biography Drama |
| Length: | 1 hr. 38 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2014 |
| USA Release: |
April 10, 2015 (limited—25 theaters) April 17, 2015 (expansion) DVD: December 1, 2015 |
importance of freedom
living in a nation where YouTube and dancing are banned
passion and defiance of a young generation lighting the flame of revolution
dancing in the Bible
taking risks to achieve your dream
ancient Persia
About Islam—An Overview for Christians
Recommended resources
| Featuring |
Freida Pinto … Elaheh Nazanin Boniadi … Parisa Ghaffarian Tom Cullen … Ardavan Reece Ritchie … Afshin Ghaffarian Simon Kassianides … Sattar Marama Corlett … Mona Akin Gazi … Farid Ghaffarian Mourad Zaoui … The student Makram Khoury … Mehdi Tolga Safer … Stephano Davood Ghadami … Basij Leader Neet Mohan … Javadi, Naser See all » |
| Director |
Richard Raymond |
| Producer |
CrossDay Productions Ltd. Head Gear Films See all » |
| Distributor | Relativity Media |
“Freedom takes courage”
Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Inspirational true story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban.
Set in Iran, where dance is illegal, Desert Dancer tells the story of Afshin Ghaffarian (Reece Ritchie) who risked his life to fight for his dream to become a dancer. Afshin Gaffarian who taught himself to dance using YouTube, despite such activities being forbidden in his country.
The story follows Afshin as he hacks into YouTube (also banned in Iran) and teaches himself how to dance by watching music videos—everything from Michael Jackson and Bob Fosse to Pina Bausch, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. With YouTube as his teacher, Afshin starts an underground dance company at university with his friends and performed in secret. As their skills develop Afshin Ghaffarian and a group of others then planned a concert, hundreds of miles outside Tehran in the middle of the desert. Despite the danger, an audience traveled to watch his forbidden performances and Afshin became known as the Desert Dancer. Their story plays against the backdrop of the 2009-10 election protests, where the passion and defiance of a young generation lit the flame of revolution still sweeping the Middle East and Africa.”
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