Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity.
Direction
Sierra Urich turns her own family into compelling cinema without exploitation.
Writing
Conversations feel stolen, not staged—raw and beautifully unscripted.
Production
Intimate home footage builds decades of history without prestige doc polish.
Director
Sierra Urich
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sierra Urich shot much of the film herself while also appearing on camera, creating a one-woman production crew situation.
The title 'Joonam' is an untranslatable Persian term of endearment—roughly 'my soul' but used casually, capturing the film's tender contradictions.
US
