Early Oscars buzz for ‘When Pomegranates Howl’

Australia's official submission for the 2022 Academy Awards was shot in Afghanistan and written and directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Granaz Moussavi.
Arafat Faiz in When Pomegranates Howl

Australia has selected the Australia/Afghanistan co-production When Pomegranates Howl as the official submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards to be held in 2022. This adds to increasing awards conversation around a quiet child-centric film that feels especially relevant as the world fears for the people of Afghanistan.

When Pomegranates Howl is the second feature film written and directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Granaz Moussavi, who made My Tehran for Sale in 2009.

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is the ArtsHub Group's Education and Career Editor. She was previously a journalist for Screenhub and is a writer, film critic and cultural commentator with a PhD in Australian cinema. She was the co-host of Australia's longest-running film podcast 'Hell is for Hyphenates' and has written a memoir, Fallen, published by Affirm Press. Her second book, Double Happiness, a novel, will be published by Midnight Sun in 2024. Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle Twitter: @Milan2Pinsk