DESERT DANCER

Reece Ritchie (Hercules, The Lovely Bones), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Tom Cullen (Downton Abbey, Weekend) star in Richard Raymond’s directorial debut Desert Dancer, based on the incredible life story of Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked it all to fight for his dreams! Set in Iran, where it is forbidden to dance, Desert Dancer follows Afshin and his friends, who despite the dangers, formed an underground dance company in a hidden basement. Through proxy servers the group hacked past the government firewalls into YouTube, where they learnt from the very best – Michael Jackson, Pina Bausch, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Reveling in the freedom of expression that dance gave them, they set out to put on a performance deep in the desert, away from the watchful eyes of the ruthless Basij militia. However this simple act of courage and defiance would set in motion events that would put Afshin’s life at risk.

Desert Dancer marks the film debut of multi award-winning, world renowned choreographer Akram Khan (London Olympics opening ceremony). The film is a CrossDay/May 13 Films production produced by CrossDay Productions’ Pippa Cross (Shooting Dogs) and Richard Raymond through his outfit May 13 Films. Additional producers are Izabella Miko and Luis Astorquia.

Adapted by Jon Croker (The Woman in Black), Desert Dancer also stars Marama Corlett (Devil’s Double), Bamshad Abedi-Amin (Colin), Simon Kassianides (Quantum of Solace) and Makram J. Khoury (Munich) who plays Afshin’s mentor Mehdi. The film introduces Gabriel Senior as the young Afshin Ghaffarian. The film also stars Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland), who is an official spokesperson for Amnesty International USA and has campaigned against the unjust conviction and treatment of Iranian youth, women and prisoners of conscience.

A Kreo Films FZ-LLC project.