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Steven Talens

@captainbonehead

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Your support allows us to keep going, so please consider liking, following and leaving a comment. Info ⬇️

We made a movie about our home country and got some funny comments in the process 🤷

This film is a fully independent production made by a multicultural team of many different backgrounds, beliefs, and faiths with no studio backing or big money donors. It’s been a journey of almost 10 years so please show the team some love.

@lastnightintehran is a film about art and identity in the years following the revolution of 1979, as a family of musicians navigates a new world where music has been outlawed.

Releasing late 2026.

#indiefilm #persian #cinema #newmovies #moviereview

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The full trailer for Last Night in Tehran is here. ⬇️

A film about musicians, identity, and a city in the years following the earth shattering revolution of 1979. We made this film independently over the course of ten years, with a small crew and no studio backing. The very first draft of the script was written all the way back in 2015. Dedicated to the ones back home who raised hell and fought to create a world they wouldn’t live to see.
This film moves through Tehran with the texture of Persian music threaded through it.

The world we come from is one of poetry, calligraphy, beautiful rugs, tea poured at three in the morning, smoke in dim rooms, Googoosh on the radio, the smell of saffron and rosewater. The same culture that gave us Rumi, Hafez, the Shahnameh, the gardens of Isfahan, Persepolis, and the architecture that shaped the Silk Road from Samarkand to Istanbul. The same culture that gave the world The Canon of Medicine, refrigeration, and ice cream.
It is a culture of art and beauty, but if you follow the news, the image that is painted could not be more different. We made this film to show the side of Iran we know, and to push our voices above the noise.
We made it for everyone who grew up on old black and white persian films, and the kids of immigrants who grew up between two languages and never truly felt like they fit in. We made it for anyone who’s ever loved a song so much it changed their year.

Trailer is live now. Your support means the world to us, and helps us continue this journey.

Disclosure: We are a small team with limited resources. As such, our composer is focused on crafting the music for the full film to make that the best experience it can be. Because of this, we’ve had to generate some elements of the sound and music, specifically for this trailer, which will not be present in the final release.

#LastNightInTehran #IranianCinema #PersianCulture #Iran #Tehran IndieFilm PersianMusic Googoosh Rumi Hafez Shahnameh Persepolis Isfahan

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Why did we make this movie? ⬇️
Iran gave the world its first declaration of human rights under Cyrus the Great at Persepolis. Persian physicians were advancing medicine while most of the world hadn’t started. Iranian mathematicians developed algebra. The word paradise comes from the Persian word for garden. Rumi is the best selling poet in America and wrote in Farsi eight centuries ago. Hafez is still quoted at every Iranian dinner table. Persian architecture influenced the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra, and half of what people photograph in Istanbul. The tar and the setar shaped the music of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Ottoman Empire. Iranian cinema has competed at Cannes, Venice, and Berlin for decades. Persian calligraphy is one of the most studied art forms on earth. Persian food from tahdig to ghormeh sabzi feeds millions across Los Angeles, London, Toronto, Hamburg, Dubai, Sydney, and Tehran itself. Nowruz is celebrated by 300 million people worldwide. The Shahnameh is one of the longest epic poems ever written by a single author. Isfahan was once called half the world.
The same country that produced all of this banned its own music after 1979. Took women’s rights backward. Censored its own poets. Imprisoned its own artists.
We made a film about musicians in Tehran in the years following 1979. Ten years in the making. No studio behind it.
Last Night in Tehran. Trailer April 25.
#LastNightInTehran #Iran #Tehran #Persian #PersianCulture IranianCinema IndieFilm Rumi Hafez Persepolis Isfahan Shahnameh PersianMusic PersianArchitecture PersianFood Tahdig PersianGarden PersianCalligraphy Nowruz Tar Setar IranianDiaspora IranianHeritage IranianArt PersianPoetry CyrusTheGreat آزادی ایران فرهنگ_ایرانی سینمای_ایران

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Iran is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. It’s the country that built Persepolis, and gave us the poetry of Rumi and Hafez, invented the garden, and gave the world algebra, the tar, and architecture that influenced every continent. Persian music is thousands of years old. Rumi is the best selling poet in America and he wrote in Farsi 800 years ago. Cyrus the Great wrote the first charter of human rights into law, much of which was directly copied into the United States Bill of Rights over 2000 years later.
The same country that gave humanity all of that can no longer freely enjoy most of it. Musicians can’t perform openly. Women are told how to exist in public. Art is monitored and filtered through approval.
We made a film about musicians in Tehran in the years following 1979. It’s taken us over ten years to get to this point with no studio backing. This is Last Night in Tehran. Trailer April 25.
#LastNightInTehran #Iran #Tehran #PersianCulture #IndieFilm IranianCinema PersianMusic IranianDiaspora آزادی ایران

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The melody in the song you’re hearing has a history of its own. This song was part of the Iranian elementary school curriculum for decades. Every kid in the country learned it. After 1979, it was removed.
The lyrics are by Abbas Yamini Sharif, the poet behind most of Iran’s children’s textbooks before 1979. This one was called Farzand-e Iran. Children of Iran.

Last Night in Tehran.
Trailer drops April 25.
#LastNightInTehran #FarzandeIran #PersianMusic #PersianCulture #IranianCinema Tehran IndieFilm IranianHeritage IranianDiaspora PersianPoetry IranianArt آزادی ایران

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If you ever sat in the back of a Paykan with the windows down on a summer night, your baba driving too fast on some road outside Shiraz, Radio Tehran playing something by Dariush or Hayedeh, the smell of jasmine and diesel mixing together, and your maman telling everyone to be quiet so she could hear the song. If you remember stopping for bastani on the side of the road and nobody locking the car. If you remember what the air felt like before everything changed.

Last Night in Tehran. A film about musicians in Tehran in the years following 1979. Made independently. No studio.

#LastNightInTehran #Paykan #RadioTehran #persianculture #iraniancinema Tehran Shiraz IndieFilm PersianMusic IranianHeritage IranianDiaspora Bastani IranianNostalgia

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We grew up with two versions of Iran. The one the world talks about, and the one our families carried with them.
The tea, the music, the poetry read out loud at the dinner table. That second one never made the news.
This film is about that Iran.
Last Night in Tehran. Musicians in a city holding its breath.
Creating this film has been a journey that’s taken us over 10 years. Made independently, with love, from the ground up.
Dedicated to the brave voices of Iran.
#LastNightInTehran #IranianCinema #PersianCulture #Tehran #IndieFilm PersianMusic PersianPoetry IranianArt IranianHeritage

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So… this is exciting! ‘Valentine’s Day’ is screening at the Oscar qualifying Cleveland Film Festival!! @clefilmfest

That means your girl has 2 shorts she directed playing at this incredible festival!! I’m ecstatic and feeling insanely grateful! I can’t wait to show y’all!

Thank you to everyone on the Cleveland team for this honor and to the amazing team that allowed me to direct something a little different than my usual genre!

Valentine’s Day is a dramedy starring the fabulous @valemaldon & @kellomalley (who also executive produced!)

Produced by @alightindarkplaces
Produced by @zein_khleif
Written by Jessica Moss
Cinematographer - Steven Talens @captainbonehead
Composer - @charleshumenry
Editors - @joesiebert_editor & 🙋🏻‍♀️
Associate Producer- @devonmaycare
Makeup - Kristina O’Malley
1st AD - Jonathan Betzler
2nd AD - @alefips
Sound Mixer - Scott Kaser
Sound Designer - Matthew Polis
Visual Effects & Compositor - Ian Blewitt
Key Grip - @cooper.finn
Gaffer - @jonesry
1st AC - @indiaroselausterer
2nd AC - Trenton Talens
Colorist - @avery_niles
Set PA - Kourtney O’Malley

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Watch the full music video on the link in my bio. Have to listened to the song as well? Let me know what you think. 🌹🌹

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lighting for @theestallion. was a fun one being a part of the LA unit.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS5MHrCsE5U&t=2s
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dop: @mikesimpsondop
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clt: @brandojay
kg: @captainbonehead
aclt: @artgarii
2nd grip: @africadabra
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#musicvideolighting #cinematiclighting #onsetlighting #musicvideoproduction #gaffer #directorofphotography #cinematographer #lightingdesign #setlife #visualstorytelling #producer

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Hi there fellas, due to a confidence boosting screening I recently had of my first short film, “Smoking in Circles“, I decided to finally release it to the PUBLIC! *gasp*

It’s the story of a lady who’s adamantly opposed to labels and feverishly attempting to convince you that it takes more than a cigarette to make a smoker.

People seemed to like it so maybe you will too. Link is in my bio, watch it if you’ve ever had to convince someone you were or were not something or another.

Also if you like b*tches being gr*mey ;)

Or if you like using circular logic to get people off your BACK

Cinematography by @captainbonehead

Produced by @gabynotgabby

Starring the one, the only, the brilliant @vibeofcarly as “Lady”

Written & Directed by yours truly bb ;)

Also featuring much music by the lovely @angelajanemusic @benoldman & @joesandersmusic

With too many cameos to count (including one by a famous model, a necrophile, & me) you’re in for a ride :)

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