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A young airport customs officer must navigate the shifting rules of a totalitarian system to secure his job.

Empty Your Pockets
Dir. Tara Aghdashloo
http://taraaghdashloo.com/
Instagram: taraaghdashloo

"Airports are places of contradiction. For some, they mark the beginning of a new adventure or the long-awaited return of a loved one. For others, they are spaces defined by anxiety and painful farewells. For Iranian immigrant Tara Aghdashloo, these transitional environments carry a particularly personal significance, embodying both “the promise of a better future” and “the pain of those left behind.” It is perhaps no surprise, then, that she chose to set her impressive short film, Empty Your Pockets, within one of these liminal spaces, using the airport as the backdrop for an absurd yet sharply observed exploration of bureaucracy, power, and systemic corruption." - S/W Curator, Rob Munday

FULL REVIEW: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2026/0...

CREDITS

Written & Directed by Tara Aghdashloo

Production Companies: OPC Production, Intermission Film
Supported by: Canada Council of the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, British Arts
Producers: Michelle Koerssen, Tara Aghdashloo
Co-Producer: Nedda Sarshar
Executive Producers: Sam Cryer, Harland Weiss, Caterina Jackman, Jason Aita, Isil Gilder, Emily Harris Donovan Boden, Sahar Yousefi

Director of Photography: Farhad Ghaderi
Editor: Abolfazl Talooni
Production Designer: Hope Little
Costume Designer: Anna Viksene

Starring: Kiarash Dadgar, Amir Zavosh, Bahman Dadui, Armin Lou, Peyman Shariati, Leyla Shamshiri, Nikta Atapour, Farshideh Nasrin, Mehdi Slampoor, Camelia Ghazali, Toomaj Daneshbehzadi, Banafsheh Taherian, Kimia Kalantari

Production Manager: Clarisa Susette
Production Coordinator: Sofia Maria Gracia
1st AD: Lauren Guyatt
2nd AD: Golan Sahraei,Shervineh Didandeh
Intimacy Coordinator: Lindsay Somers
1st AC: Adrian Muir
2nd AC: Aiden Carter
Production Assistants: Garcy Hughes, Amir Derakhshan, James Gilchrist

Prop Master: Selin Togay
Set Decorator: Ollie Green, Candice Silver, Frankie Rast
Ant Sculpture: Jannat
Hair & Makeup Artist: Aveen Damghani
1st Assit Hair & Makeup: Caz Fullerton
Costume Set Key: Vivi Diaz
Costumer: Grace White

Sound Mix & Boom Op: Aryan Abbasnia
Script Supervisor :Sadaf Khajeh
Stills Photographer: Jeff Chiu
Gaffer Roham: Abtahi
Key Grip Nazariy: Andrukhiv
Grip: Christopher Fernandes, Ivan Streltsov
Spark: Christofer Perkins, Mahan Ashtari
DIT: Kyle Brunet

Graphics & Poster: Saam Keshmiri
Colourist: Jonny Tully
Colour House: CHEAT
Colour Producer: Dominic Strachen, Emily Davies

Sound Design & Mix: Ensieh Maleki
Original Score: Performativity Ltd.
Music by the legendary Faramarz Aslani, and Sadra Imanpour

Casting thanks to: Shima Monfared, Siavash Shabanpour, Amir Zavosh, Baharan Baniahmadi, Mina Rafie
Festival Strategy: Festival Formula

Catering: Narges Hanji  
Equipment:Ontario Camera thanks to Daniel Shojaei
Intermission Short Film Fund Producer: Nia Childs
Intermission Film Executive Assistant: Molly Blumsom
OPC Films Liaison: Molly Shears


Reproduced on this channel with the permission of the filmmakers.