About Maya
The exiled daughter of a Middle Eastern dictator faces unimaginable turmoil when her husband's suspicious death unearths hidden ties to her father's dark past, pulling her into a web of secrets that could change her life forever.
— Synopsis
The daughter of a Middle Eastern dictator, now exiled in a Western country, struggles to escape the haunting shadow of her past. Though she fled her homeland seeking peace and anonymity, her father's dark influence continues to follow her, keeping her under relentless scrutiny. Her inner wounds, shaped by years of moral conflict and buried family secrets, remain raw and unhealed.
When her husband dies under mysterious circumstances, suspicion falls heavily on her, forcing her to confront lingering ties to her past she thought she'd left behind. Taking on new responsibilities, she must step out of her late husband's influence and chart her own course. Yet, as she tries to forge a fresh path, she is drawn deeper into a labyrinth of old loyalties, dangerous alliances, and unsettling confrontations with her family's enduring power. Navigating this hostile terrain will push her to the edge, revealing layers of betrayal and a dark truth about her father — one that threatens to unravel everything she believed about herself and her place in the world.
• Film Details
Directors: Nasim Naghavi, Amir Ganjavie
Writers: Nasim Naghavi, Amir Ganjavie, Mehdi Shirzad
Producer: Nasim Naghavi
Casts:
Avan Jamal "Maya"
Elie Maalouf "Geof Mays"
Chantal Curry Abi
A thriller that begins as a crime mystery and ends as a tragedy — in the spirit of films like Chinatown — weaving Arab culture, daily life, music and political backdrop into a gripping genre story.
Amir Ganjavie
Nasim Naghavi
Nasim Naghavi — Biography
Nasim Naghavi has been a film critic for more than 10 years in University of Toronto film club called NaMaNa Cinema. She has worked in different voluntary organizations like Cyrus film festival of Toronto. Since 2018, she has been actively engaged in film production; in the same year, she served as the executive producer of 'Pendulum'. In 2020, she co-directed her first feature film, the film "In Schrodinger box" showing the impact of Corona pandemic on the life of an isolated woman.
Amir Ganjavie — Biography
Amir Ganjavie, a multifaceted individual based in Toronto, holds a Ph.D. in communication and culture and is currently completing a second Ph.D. in philosophy at McMaster University. His first doctoral dissertation focused on utilizing Hegel's philosophy to understand and analyze contemporary utopian movies.
Fascinated by the issue of alternative and utopian space in modern urban settings and cinema, Amir has published several articles on utopia and authored two books — one on utopia and another on walkable neighborhoods (Pour une ville qui marche). He has co-edited two special volumes on Iranian cinema for Film International and Asian Cinema and edited Humanities of the Other: An essay collection on the Dardanne Brothers (in Persian). He contributes to MovieMaker, Filmint, Mubi, Senses of Cinema, Offscreen, and Brightlight, and serves as the chief editor of Universal Cinema Journal. He is the CEO of the Cyrus Intl. Film Festival and the Phoenix Cultural Centre of Toronto, and a founding member of NaMaNa Cinema. His filmmaking journey began in 2018 with the co-direction of Pendulum, and in 2021 he directed the COVID thriller "Into Schrödinger's Box" with Nasim Naghavi.
Director Statement
The initial concept for About Maya originated from the tragic suicide of one of our dear friends. It was a deeply distressing incident that confronted us with the harsh reality of our friend's demise and the profound impact it had on his wife. With no support from anyone, and while everyone saw her as responsible for the husband's suicide, she had to tackle a very difficult life. These events served as the catalyst for our film.
Narratively, we contemplated the plight of a Middle Eastern woman striving for freedom within societal and patriarchal constraints. The theme of identity held great significance for us: is one's identity solely determined by their country of birth? Do culture, personal and family history alone determine one's identity and responsibility towards others? In this film, the protagonist is a victim of a past in which she played no active role — yet she is compelled to fight for it, judged and questioned in ways that could cause her great harm.
While socioeconomic, familial, and political structures undeniably influence our lives, many other factors shape our identities — our interests, the arts, the relationships we form. Unfortunately these nuances are often overlooked, and individuals are judged based on family background, race, gender, and nationality. This film contemplates the cruelty inflicted through such judgments.
We believed our innovation lay in integrating Arab culture and its elements while ensuring believability. Despite a potential audience of over 400 million Arabs worldwide, thrillers remain relatively uncommon in these cinemas. Our aim was to create a thriller centered on an Arab family — household items, political backdrop, music with an Arab ambiance.
We believe a good genre entertainment film has more power than a cold, realistic film to be politically useful. We wanted to start with a crime mystery and end with a tragedy — like Chinatown, where the initial murder mystery gradually reveals the underlying tragedy. Despite limited resources, we structured the story to unravel incrementally, each moment adding a new layer, ultimately revealing the profound depth of the narrative.
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