Hélène Rastegar is a fiction and documentary filmmaker. After studying cinema, she coorganized the Chacun Son Court short-film festival, then took part in the Lussas writing residency. She directed the short fiction films Nocturnes (produced by GREC) and Hydrangeas in winter, and the feature-length documentaries Dreams in progress and Shâd Bâsh. Her films are imbued with a dual Iranian culture in perpetual construction, and feature female characters whose bodies bear the marks of an internal struggle to survive and make a place for themselves.