Roots is a twenty-minute short documentary film written and directed by Hasti Saadi. It will be screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, which begins on May 11th and lasts until May 22nd, in the Short Film Corner of the festival.

Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWire) -- 05/20/2016 --Hasti Saadi is a thirty-five year old Iranian photographer, director, and screenwriter. She was born in and grew up in the city of Shiraz in Iran, but she moved to Toronto, Canada, with her family at the age of seventeen. In Canada, Saadi was able to pursue her passions of image arts and design by studying photography at George Brown College and filmmaking at Ryerson University. However, after receiving an initial education in photography and filmmaking, Saadi chose to move back to Iran when she was twenty five years old. She moved to the city of Tehran, Iran, where she continued to follow her dreams of becoming a filmmaker. In Iran, Saadi studied filmmaking further by taking scriptwriting courses under the mentorship of Taghvaee, a renowned Iranian filmmaker whose work is well known around the world. Saadi also participated in a filmmaking workshop that was instructed by Iranian filmmaker and photographer Abbas Kiarostami, who has also garnered international praise for his work. During her time participating in the workshop, which lasted for one year, Saadi wrote and created two documentaries.

Therefore, Roots is not her first documentary film, and it is not her first short film either. In 2012, Saadi wrote and directed a short film called "The Luminance", which was also offered a position at the Festival de Cannes in the Short Film Corner of the festival. Due to her extensive filmmaking education and her emotional investment in the content she creates, Saadi brings both passion and talent to her work. She does not write films simply to earn money or gain success in the world of cinema. Saadi writes and directs in order to provide herself with a powerful outlet for expressing her innermost feelings and emotions in a positive and creative way. Her true passion for her work as well as her undeniable filmmaking skills create a perfect blend of intense emotion, profound spirit, and excellent craftsmanship that shine within her films. Saadi dreams of sharing her vision with the world through her scripts, films, and short stories.

Saadi was inspired to create Roots by the immigrant crises occurring around the world. She recognizes that thousands of people are forced to uproot themselves from their homes, their friends, their families, their homeland, and their communities in order to find a safe place to live and work. Sometimes, that safe place that will provide them with physical or financial security is halfway around the world. Furthermore, after they make it to the regions they must go to in order to feel as though themselves and their loved ones can be safe, many immigrants are often not received well by the citizens or the government of the country in which they arrive and are forced to struggle to live a life of reasonable quality in a foreign land. Saadi is passionate about the injustice of the struggles immigrants face around the world. She dreams of a world where everyone on the earth is able to remain in the homes they love and are never forced to move across the world due to war, economic crisis, harsh political regime, or any other reason. Through her film Roots, Saadi hopes to share her dream with those who watch the documentary.

About Roots
Roots is a true and authentic short documentary film; the film includes real people and events that actually happened. The film delves into the struggles of immigrants, specifically the hardships Afghans face after immigrating to Iran in hopes of finding a better and safer place to live. Roots follows a conversation between two boys: one is an Afghan boy who works in a garden and the other is an Iranian boy who visits the garden to purchase decorative plants.

Throughout their conversation, the two young boys discuss love, God, and their dreams, quickly revealing the similarities in their personalities despite their opposite life situations. Roots perfectly captures the struggle Afghan immigrants face as they are viewed as "just laborers" through the sweet innocence of a blossoming friendship between two young boys who live in parallel worlds but whose spirits and emotions are still in tune.

Attendees of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival should attend the unveiling of Hasti Saadi's newest documentary masterpiece Roots in order to gain awareness and perspective on the struggles of immigrants around the world.

Watch Trailer: https://vimeo.com/165745720

Media Contact:
Email: hastisaadi@gmail.com
Url: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5445947/