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In the past three years in friendly gatherings, at work and in the society a general concern has repeatedly come up in daily conversations. A concern that every few years finds its way to our minds.
Uncertain future, hyperinflation, daily devaluation of our country’s currency, economic instability, high unemployment, investment risks, expensive housing, ambiguous sociopolitical situation, lack of individual and social freedom and the right to choose our life style and the consequent frustrations, all and all cause many to think of solutions to reach stability in life.
In the 1980’s and early 90’s immigration was a concern for the wealthy or political activists. From the mid 90’s when the middle class became more extensive, many people embarked on immigrating abroad in search of a more stable and comfortable life or study in reputable academic institutions.
The price of dollar in the 90’s was under 500 tooman. In 2010 it went up to 1000 tooman. The continuous devaluation of our currency raised the price of dollar to 4200 tooman in 2017 and now a dollar is worth between 22000 to 25000 tooman.
With the US (Trump) walking out of the nuclear deal, the repeated consequences and aftermath of this act, whispers of renewed sanctions and their severe economic impacts, military threats and tensions between Iran and the United States and the regional countries, once again has cast a shadow of unrest and apprehensions.
In these circumstances, however, what hope could be given to people?
How could we expect these exhausted and almost depressed people to wake up in high spirit every day and take a positive step towards building a bright future?
All these daily conversations being one of the most important concerns for me and the people around me, pushed me towards making a film about these issues. A film that as much as possible, could express these realities without distortion and well documented. It was extremely difficult and critical to arrive at a fashion to make a film on such issues, considering the existing conditions and restrictions in Iran. After much probing I reached the idea of using a mobile phone as the POV. A style that would make people most comfortable in front of the camera.
For about two years, everywhere I went I started to film and tried to be more of an observer of the events. After two years I had about 200 hours of rushes. The editing took one year and the result became the film, ‘One of Us’.

Iranian independent director and Editor Farnaz Roshanaee was born in Tehran, Iran in 1987. While studying cinema at university, Roshanaee started her editing and filmmaking career with short films. She has edited over 60 short films and documentaries and several feature fiction films over the twelve years. Roshanaee has directed four independent short narrative films and The documentary film “One of us” is her first experience as a documentary director.

In the past three years in friendly gatherings, at work and in the society a general concern has repeatedly come up in daily conversations. A concern that every few years finds its way to our minds.
Uncertain future, hyperinflation, daily devaluation of our country’s currency, economic instability, high unemployment, investment risks, expensive housing, ambiguous sociopolitical situation, lack of individual and social freedom and the right to choose our life style and the consequent frustrations, all and all cause many to think of solutions to reach stability in life.
In the 1980’s and early 90’s immigration was a concern for the wealthy or political activists. From the mid 90’s when the middle class became more extensive, many people embarked on immigrating abroad in search of a more stable and comfortable life or study in reputable academic institutions.
The price of dollar in the 90’s was under 500 tooman. In 2010 it went up to 1000 tooman. The continuous devaluation of our currency raised the price of dollar to 4200 tooman in 2017 and now a dollar is worth between 22000 to 25000 tooman.
With the US (Trump) walking out of the nuclear deal, the repeated consequences and aftermath of this act, whispers of renewed sanctions and their severe economic impacts, military threats and tensions between Iran and the United States and the regional countries, once again has cast a shadow of unrest and apprehensions.
In these circumstances, however, what hope could be given to people?
How could we expect these exhausted and almost depressed people to wake up in high spirit every day and take a positive step towards building a bright future?
All these daily conversations being one of the most important concerns for me and the people around me, pushed me towards making a film about these issues. A film that as much as possible, could express these realities without distortion and well documented. It was extremely difficult and critical to arrive at a fashion to make a film on such issues, considering the existing conditions and restrictions in Iran. After much probing I reached the idea of using a mobile phone as the POV. A style that would make people most comfortable in front of the camera.
For about two years, everywhere I went I started to film and tried to be more of an observer of the events. After two years I had about 200 hours of rushes. The editing took one year and the result became the film, ‘One of Us’.