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KAVIR FILMS LTD

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Introduction

This film is about the filmmaker’s heart-breaking, emotional and physical journey to Iran from the UK to make peace with his traumatic past, a journey that has seen him establish Iran’s first Duchenne charity.

Growing up in Iran, in a family of modest means, the British-Iranian filmmaker Sohrab Kavir watched helplessly as his three brothers succumbed to Duchenne. 20 years in the making, his film, Duchenne Boys, is the triumphant result of a man who refused to give up and for whom the act of making this film was both a catharsis and a campaign for change. The film has won 10 International Best Feature Documentary Awards and two Best Director Awards. The documentary was edited by world-renowned editor, Hayedeh Safiyari, who has two Oscar-winning films in her portfolio and is an Academy Award Member.

Duchenne is the number one global genetic killer of children. The disease causes gradual muscle deterioration, which eventually affects the lungs and heart and leads to premature death. Alongside the film, Sohrab and his sister launched the first Duchenne charity in Iran, which currently supports over 700 children (out of an estimated 10,000 in the country), and he also runs the biggest online Duchenne community in the world. We need your help to complete this campaign film in order to gather international support to find a cure for this devastating disease and help Duchenne families everywhere.

Synopsis

struggles with PTSD. His psychologist suggests that he finds a way to help boys suffering the same disease as his brothers to alleviate his symptoms, especially his survivor’s guilt.

Sohrab is reminded of his brothers when he meets Matin, a young British-Iranian with Duchenne, who plays football for the English Powerchair Premier League and is also an avid football gamer. Inspired by his energy and the opportunities that have enabled Matin to thrive, Sohrab is inspired to help more Duchenne boys realise their football dreams, something he was unable to do for his brothers.

He strikes upon a unique idea: to form a national virtual football team of Iranian Duchenne boys with bespoke avatars to play an online football match against a similar team from the UK. It will be a world first. He believes that if his vision is realised, his survivor’s guilt will be lifted.

Sohrab leaves for Iran to form the team and find boys with Duchenne. He is faced with a challenge: the Iranian sufferers are not registered anywhere. With no alternative, Sohrab embarks upon an odyssey to travel the vast Iranian landscape, solely relying on word-of-mouth to find his players.

During his time there, he meets hundreds of families. The boys’ stories are illuminating. Several of their fathers are wracked with guilt in believing that they have offended God to cause him to strike down their sons. One father, a former Mullah, became a drug addict, so great is his despair. On the other hand, the boys are full of hope and zest for life; they

don’t see anything standing in their way between them and their futures. Some have become accomplished chess players, one of the few outlets for their broken bodies and smart minds. Most sufferers retain the use of their hands for longer, and so many create table football games from whatever they can find around them, such as marbles and ice cream sticks.

After a while, Sohrab loses hope in his idea as he sees the more pressing issues the families face, such as an urgent need for medical care and support. Just as he abandons the project, he meets Reza, an IT engineer with Duchenne. Reza recognises that the football project has the potential to become an excellent campaign tool to raise awareness and support for Duchenne families. He joins Sohrab on his quest to find the remaining players. The project continues.

Reza’s passion for life brings joy and fun to the journey as they travel together and reminds Sohrab that life is to be lived. Within a year, they recruit the remaining players and connect them to the internet.

Three years after leaving, Sohrab returns to the UK to recruit the English team, leaving Reza in charge of the Iranian team. A few months later, tragic news comes that Duchenne has claimed the life of the Iranian Captain.

Sohrab’s PTSD symptoms return with a vengeance, and he spirals into addiction to numb the pain. During the next few years, the remaining players die, and he sinks further into addiction. His football dream has been shattered.

Several years later, with the help of the 12-Step Recovery Programme, Sohrab pulls himself out of his addiction and finds the courage to revisit the families in Iran. Humbled by his extraordinary and emotional journey, Sohrab has more compassion for the families, and he is able to identify on a deeper level with the father, who also suffered from addiction, and who has now lost both of his boys.

Sohrab and Reza have a new calling. They join forces with the help of Sohrab’s sister and their friends and launch the first charity in Iran to support Duchenne families.

Today, the charity assists over 700 Duchenne families in Iran and the film has won numerous International Awards. The ‘DuchenneBoys’ Instagram page has become the biggest online community for Duchenne families worldwide.

Awards

Hayedeh Safiyari

Film Editor
Hayedeh Safiyari is an Iranian editor whose numerous credits include the Oscar-winning films, A Separation (2012), and The Salesman (2017). She edited the film Everybody Knows (2018) by Asghar Farhadi, filmed in Spain, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Safiyari has won many international awards including several Crystal Simorgh awards in the Fajr International Film Festival, the Iranian equivalent of the BAFTAS. She has edited over 80 feature fiction films and several documentaries over during her career. Most of these films have been selected and nominated by many well-renowned film festivals and received prestigious awards. This includes "Cannes film festival", "BFI", "Berlin international film festival", "Venice international film festival", "Golden Globe", and "Locarno international film festival".

Sohrab Kavir

Director
Sohrab Kavir is a multi-award-winning British-Iranian writer/director. He was born in Mashhad, Iran, in October 1979, and moved to the UK at the age of 23 to study filmmaking. He has a BA in Digital Film Production from London Southbank University, followed by an MA in Film Making from the London Film School. Sohrab has been working in the film industry since he was 19, and has professional experience as a writer-director, cinematographer, sound recordist and film editor. He is known for his award-winning feature documentary, Duchenne Boys, and he is now working on ‘Roomi’, his first feature fiction movie, which will be shot in the summer of 2023. He lives in Stroud, England, with his wife Nastaran and his children Ella and Elia.

Hassan Mahdavi

Sound Designer
Hassan Mahdavi is an acclaimed Iranian sound designer who has worked on multiple films with an international track record. Hassan has been nominated for the Best Sound Designer for three feature films: “I Want to Be a King” (2015), “Forbidden” (2017) and “Season of Narges” (2017). He also worked on the Oscar-winning films, The Salesman (2017), and A Separation (2012).

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