Singing Wings, written and directed by Heyman Khaledi, received the Best Asian Documentary Award at the 30th Busan International Film Festival. It will soon screen at the Zurich Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.
The film — Khaledi’s first feature documentary — portrays intertwined stories of three couples confronting migration. Shot in the village of Darreh Tafi, Marivan (Kurdistan, Iran), it captures the rare coexistence of villagers and storks.
At the center of the narrative is an elderly woman caring simultaneously for her 100-year-old husband and a wounded stork, while her daughter prepares to migrate to Europe to join her husband. The film approaches migration not through poverty or nostalgia but with empathy and humanity.
Produced over the course of four years of research and production, the film is an international co-production among Georgia, Belgium, and Iran. Producers are Ina Tedjowa, Zina Brouyan, and Sargol Moradi.
Key crew include Loghman Sokhanvar (editor/artistic consultant), Voria Abdiani (cinematographer), Mehdi Yeganeh (sound), Arasto Mofakhri (sound, second unit), Sadegh Omidbakhsh (assistant director/production manager), Hamida Rasouli (production designer), Sako Ebrahimi (production manager), Bahman Ardalan (sound designer), Sattar Oraki (composer), Shoayb Maktabdar (poster designer), and Gelavizh Naderi (media consultant).