Sepideh: Reaching for the Stars

Sepideh is the story of 16‐year‐old Sepideh who wants to become an astronaut. Fuelled by a promise to her dead father to follow her dream and by the encouragement of her physics teacher Mr. Kabiri, Sepideh spends her days studying astronomy and her nights watching the stars. But pursuing her ambition is easier said than done for the young Iranian woman who is tied by family traditions and cultural codes, according to which nightly stargazing is not an appropriate occupation. But Sepideh is strong‐willed, and in her mind teamed up with Albert Einstein and with her idol Anousheh Ansari, an exiled Iranian woman who became the world’s first female space tourist. And although just a teenager, Sepideh is on the road of becoming the best amateur astronomer in Iran.

But reality kicks in: The family is out of money due to a drought that prevents them from growing their farmland, and Sepideh’s mother is denied access to the family well. The uncle blames it all on Sepideh, spending time and money on a giant telescope.

Sepideh puts all her effort into a national talent competition to get free access to the university, only to realize that her astronomy thesis has been turned down as it contradicts Islamic interpretation of a national treasure. At the same time Sepideh’s last year of high school is approaching and suitors are knocking on the door. Furious by the thought that his favorite student ends up getting married, Mr. Kabiri doesn't want to accept that neither his own dream of building an observatory behind town nor seeing Sepideh succeed will come true.

But Sepideh collects her will and brings the battle for the stars down to the ground. She becomes more determined than ever to make the teenager’s dream become a young woman’s reality.