Desert Dancer

Desert Dancer (2014)

Timing: 1:38 (98 min)

6.9/10
50

7.363/10
5687

6.2/10
2100

All about film

Video 4

Photo 3

Actors and characters

Release date

2014-07-03

Country

Morocco, Romania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Production

Lipsync Productions, Head Gear Films, CrossDay Productions, May 13 Films, Morocco Film Assistance

Genre

Drama, Music

Budget

$4 000 000

Revenue

$155 271

Website

Director

Richard Raymond

Actors

Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie, Tom Cullen, Nazanin Boniadi, Marama Corlett, Akin Gazi, Simon Kassianides, Makram J. Khoury, Tolga Safer, Neet Mohan
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Fabiola Beracasa Beckman, Izabella Miko, Pippa Cross, Luis Astorquia, Richard Raymond, Mohammed Al Turki

Operator

Carlos Catalán

Composer

Benjamin Wallfisch

Artist

Abdellah Baadil

Audition

Manuel Puro

Editing

Celia Haining, Chris Gill
All team (39)

• The film was shot over 7 weeks.
• The plot is set in Iran.
• Filming began in Morocco, with Casablanca serving as a stand-in for Tehran. The crew then moved to the Sahara, where the famous desert dances were filmed.
• Filming took place in Paris and concluded in London.
• The film marks the directorial debut of world-renowned choreographer Akram Khan.
• To better understand Afshin Ghaffarian and learn about his life story, director Richard Raymond and screenwriter John Crocker recorded over 8 hours of interviews with the dancer.
• Although the film tells the story of the Iranian people, only half of the actors on set were from Iran. The cast is international. For example, Freida Pinto was born in India, and Rhys Richie is English.
• According to Richard Raymond, the film 'Dancing in the Desert' is not political. It is about the Iranian people. To fully immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of this country, the film uses traditional music, mentions cuisine, and other cultural aspects of Iranian life.
• The film's choreographer is world-renowned British choreographer Akram Khan. He was the choreographer for the dance portion of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
• The film features many young people from Iran – young people who are not professional actors. Interestingly, not everyone agreed to participate in the filming for cultural reasons.
• Richard Raymond read the story of Afshin Ghaffarian in a newspaper.
• The director compares Ghaffarian's fate to the story of the Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer, principal dancer of the Leningrad Theatre of Opera and Ballet named after Kirov, Rudolf Nureyev. In 1961, during a tour of the troupe in Paris, he requested political asylum, becoming one of the most famous non-returnees from the USSR.
• To accurately depict Iran and the culture of the Iranian people on screen, Raymond not only studied books about the country, but also spent over a month traveling through it, memorizing and analyzing the contemporary political and cultural situation.
• Frida Pinto, who played the main role in the film, has been dancing for a long time. She prepared for the film and the dances in it for about six months, learning the movements together with Akram Khan and developing a special plasticity.
• The film's choreographer is world-renowned British choreographer Akram Khan. He was the choreographer for the dance section of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.