‘Wait On Me’ is a twisted love story set in a dystopian Tehran, Iran, inspired by American science fiction films, retrofuturistic comic books, and slasher films of the late 20th century. Through a modern retelling of 1984-esque dystopian stories that are familiar to western audiences, the narrative pays homage to the real life Iranian couple who were arrested and sentenced to 10 years in jail for a published video of the two dancing in front of Tehran's Freedom tower, as an act of defiance within the recent and ongoing protest movements.

The star crossed lovers in our story, portrayed by KIANA and Lou Celestino, the singers of the dark R&B track, find themselves jailed in a dystopian prison in Tehran. Visions of a free past with her lover haunt KIANA, as Lou longs for their lost love. In a final sequence referencing real life reported conditions in Iranian detention centre, the prison guard makes a sexual advance on KIANA, as she sees an opportunity to turn on him and break free.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

“The final months of 2022 was a dark period for all Iranians around the world. I would wake up to videos on social media filled with violence and police brutality cracking down on innocent civilians in my homeland, following the death of Mahsa Amini. I was looking for a way to express anger and frustration the best way I knew how, through my work. In October, I reached out to KIANA, a talented Iranian woman and R&B singer who shared the same sentiments and the concept of a dark love story set in a dystopian Tehran came to be from the beautiful track ‘wait on me’ featuring Lou Celestino. Our proudly all-Iranian trio was completed when my good friend and talented filmmaker Shaghayegh Haghdoust joined us as the producer on our journey to pursue a grant from the MVP Project (Prism Prize) in Canada.

A few months into the movement as we developed the storyline, shocking news came out that a 10 year jail sentence was given to a social media influencer couple who released a video of them dancing in front of the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran. With 'wait on me' being a love song, we thought this would be a beautiful opportunity to pay tribute to this real life couple and raise awareness about the situation, and in turn, the movement.

Given my passion for 20th century scifi and comic book aesthetics, the story was wrapped in a dystopian visual universe that took inspiration from Western pieces of media like 1984, Blade Runner, Equilibrium, and so on, along with some 80s slasher horror elements, which KIANA was also a big fan of. This also presented an exciting opportunity to realize a recognizable piece of Iranian architecture, the Azadi (Freedom) Tower, in a dystopian world, which we haven’t really seen before. Another important piece was the short comic story ‘LIBIDO’ from an 1980 issue of Marvel’s Epic Illustrated magazine, which inspired the visual aesthetic and the production design of the video. I ultimately hope the science fiction take on the story can bolden the message and have more impact on new non-Iranian audiences as well.

Along with planning out building huge set pieces in studio and months of VFX work, getting the story right was one of the biggest creative challenges I’ve ever encountered - to create something that is informative and brings some level of awareness to the real life movement, while staying authentic to KIANA’s brand as an artist and her mode of self-expression, and to set all that in a visual universe inspired by western Sci-Fi films and comic books. Of course, the project is told through the lens of entertainment and fiction, and doesn't claim to 'document' the dark reality of Iranian prisons, though this was our way of widening the scope and bringing awareness to a western audience who otherwise might not be exposed to the subject matter.”

-Sina Dolati

Credits

Director & Editor// Sina Dolati/ @sinadolati_

Producer// Shaghayegh Haghdoust/ @shaghayeghhy

Production Company// LOVE/ @_love.watch

Director of Photography// Bryce Zimmerman/ @zimmermanbryce

Production Manager// Kia Mozaffari/ @kiamozaffari

Assistant Director// Eric Lee/ @eric_lee1193

Production Designer// Joe Desousa/ @traksousa @trakfve

Wardrobe Stylist// Angie Jayasinghe/ @bby_aj

Starring as ‘The Guard’// Pouyan Azarkaman/ @pablazar

VFX Producer// Daniel Pianezza/ @danielpianezza

On Set VFX Supervisor// Daniel Pianezza/ @danielpianezza

Compositor// Daniel Shpuntov/ @danielpianezza

3D Environment Artist// Daniel Shpuntov/ @shpuntsz

3D Lighting Artist// Daniel Shpuntov/ @shpuntsz

Hair, makeup & spfx artist// Julia Karmasin/ @julia_crimson_makeup

Hair, makeup & spfx assistant// Tanya Bishoff

Choreographer// Shakiba Fadaee

Sound designer// Anthony Abbatangelo/ @anthonyabbatangelo

Colour// Kevin Wu / @bykevinwu , Artjail/ @artjail

1st assistant camera// Oleksii Furdiiak/ @oleksii.furdiiak

2nd assistant camera// Patrycia Daszkowski/ @patricia.dasz

Steadicam Operator// Michael Distefano/ @distefano

Gaffer// Roham Abtahi/ @projectroe

Key grip// Scarlett Stinson/ @scar.stin

Swing grip// Behnood Abedi/ @crazyskull.prod

DIT// Pasha Soltani/ @pashs0ltani

Cinematography Mentee// Anthony Sardo/ @iknowwhatisaw

BTS Crew// Shayla Anderson/ @andshayla , Arman Sadrazadeh/ @armansaturday , Adrianna Marling/ @adrimarling , Emmanuel Teji/ @amanwhowill

Craft Services// Yazdan Kahlaee/ @kahlaeee

Production Assistants// Arad Youssefi/ @aradixix , Sina Saghaei/ @sinasgss , Niki Assadian/ @niki.niusha , Pasha Soltani/ @pashs0ltani

Special thank you to// Canada Film Equipment/ @canadafilmequipment_

Shot in studio.b @___studio.b

This video was created thanks to the generous support of the MVP Project, a joint initiative of RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize (administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television).