SHA MER ZAA
ENTERTAINMENT
SLEEPERS, AWAKE WINS best stage play at the 2024 chicago script awards
A Tale of Bondage became a winner at the 2023 Cannes Film Awards
Cannes Film Awards is an international film festival ranked among the TOP 25 most popular festivals for films and screenplay out of 10,000 worldwide.
Fire under the ashes became a winner at the 2023 berlin international screenwriting festival
RECENT AWARDS
The New Home For Film and Theater Productions
Sha Mer Zaa Entertainment was founded by Ali Kiani, Ph.D. in Los Angeles in 2004. Kiani’s works have been both published and produced professionally. He’s directed a feature film, A Dull House; and three of his documentaries have been produced in New York and Hollywood. Kiani has taught at UCLA, California State Universities, and Los Angeles Community Colleges, and was awarded a post-doctoral certificate by UCLA Theater Department.
Through a collaborative alliance with accomplished filmmakers and theater personalities, Sha Mer Zaa Entertainment intends to produce engaging and thought-provoking stories for film and stage.
FILM
A Dull House
A Dull House (feature film)
Written, Produced, and Directed by Ali Kiani
The Fosters want to have a child. They’ll do anything-from high-tech procedures to common sense advice. But are they ready to become parents? Carol Foster is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from many years of fertility drugs, hormone injections, and egg freezing. Charley Foster, her husband, is torn between sexual fantasies and his desire for emotional intimacy. In the end, they realize their needs and abandon their wants.
"Entertaining, thought provoking, and well assembled"
-Alliance Atlantic Film of Canada
"Considered for the American Spectrum Section of the Sundance Festival"
-Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of Sundance Film Festival
Documentaries
WRITER
WRITER
THEATER
Around the World in Seven Acts (2009)
The seven plays in this collection, dealing with various subjects and issues – arranged marriage, woman’s rights, tribal wars, the caste system, family relationships, and western impact – are topical and relevant to contemporary society.
These plays - Sidewalk Gurus (India), Return of the Shadow (Turkey), Three Wishes (Egypt), The Golden Canary(Japan), Lost in the Bush (Nigeria), The Way of Yu Pay-Foo (China), and The Storytellers (Iran) – were selected for performance by The California International Theater Festival (September 8th – 18th, 2011).
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“Around the World in Seven Acts is a very interesting collection of plays, drawing as it does on such diverse subject matter, cultures, and theatric traditions. [Kiani] is to be commended for the imagination and humanism implicit in embarking on such project.”
Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles
“Around the World in Seven Acts is remarkable work, impressive in its scope, and commendable in its commitment to the world theater traditions.”
Literary Manager, East West Players
“Around the World in Seven Acts was a popular and often-discussed work...it was well thought of here.”
Mead Hunter, Skirball Kenis Theater
“The Golden Canary is an enjoyable piece of work...this is done with the simplicity and forcefulness of a folktale. An excellent give-and-take between the performers is supplemented by mock Japanese music.”
Los Angeles Reader
“The Golden Canary is an excellent kyogen play...well done.”
UCLA Theater Arts Dept
“Around the World in Seven Acts provide excellent material for family theater and are also just right for the adventurous school theater department that want to explore various cultures.”
Baker’s Plays, New York
“Lost in the Bush is captivating...terrific, and wonderful.”
The Daily Sundial, CSUN
“The wide range of cultural folktales from which [Mr. Kiani] draws for this collection is commendable. Despite their differences in subject matter and style, there is a commonality that makes them pertinent to today’s society.”
Mark Taper Forum
“The Golden Canary and Lost in the Bush were well-written and intriguing.”
Pioneer Drama Service
Books
3 Screenplays, Volume 1 (2021)
A Tale of Bondage, A Dull House, Song to the Moon
A Tale of Bondage follows Bettina Ross as she tries to resume her husband’s unfinished documentary on child slavery after he’s killed, and her son ends up as a child slave. Bettina discovers the revelation at the end of the story. In A Dull House, the Fosters want to have a child; they’ll do anything, from high-tech procedures to common sense advice to have a child; but are they ready to be parents. Song to the Moon is a story of two unfortunate accidents that keep a couple apart, but their great love brings them back at the end.
3 Screenplays, Volume 2 (2021)
Finding a Silver Lining, The Spell of the West, The Storytellers
In Finding a Silver Lining, a group of friends with different ideas determined to make a micro-budgeted movie during the pandemic era. In The Spell of the West, Javad, an aspiring writer, is anxious to write stories about immigrants living in the apartment complex he manages. The evolution of entertainment, arranged marriage, religious hypocrisy, the western impact are shown in a coffee house in Tehran in 1935 is the subject of The Storytellers.
Around the City in Seven Acts (2020)
From Plentywood to Hollywood, The Holistic Road Show, The Boon House Inn, The Drowsy Gatekeepers, Waiting for Mephisto, The Singers, not the Songs, and Apostasy.
Although the plays in this anthology takes place in Los Angeles, their diverse subject matters – searching for a loved one, spirituality versus religion, living in a flophouse, social media and misinformation, making a deal with the devil, aspiring writers anxious to tell their stories, and religious conversion – are relevant and pertinent anywhere. This anthology offers topics and issues; and voices and experiences that are important in a changing world.
Around the Country in Seven Acts (2018)
The Spell of the West, The Subject was Herman, Hiawatha, Everyman Revisited , The Cardboard Alley, A Mindful Season, The Diary of Alonsa Luna
Theaters across the country are celebrating cultural diversity and inclusion. Around the Country in Seven Acts explores contemporary issues and ongoing conditions of multicultural and marginalized groups of people in America. These culturally diverse plays dealing with Asian, African, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Native American topics are much needed for national audiences.
Around the World in Seven Acts (2009, 2020)
The seven plays in this collection, dealing with various subjects and issues – arranged marriage, woman’s rights, tribal wars, the caste system, family relationships, and western impact – are topical and relevant to contemporary society.
These plays - Sidewalk Gurus (India), Return of the Shadow (Turkey), Three Wishes (Egypt), The Golden Canary (Japan), Lost in the Bush (Nigeria), The Way of Yu Pay-Foo (China), and The Storytellers (Iran) – were selected for performance by The California International Theater Festival (September 8th – 18th, 2011).
3 Plays (2013, 2020)
A Dull House: The Fosters want to have a child. They’ll do anything, from high tech procedures to common sense advice. But are they ready physically, emotionally, and mentally to become parents?
Sleepers, Awake!: Pastor Elmer Bender, a man of independent spirit, begins to doubt the existence of God, starts questioning the superficiality of all religions while his wife, Hollis, remains firm in her faith despite her husband’s gradual interest in atheism.
Reviving the Rileys: Barry Riley, an old frail but wealthy man of diversified businesses, does everything possible to prolong his life while his two sons and a daughter have different plans of their own.
An Anthology of non-Western Drama (1994)
This anthology contains seven plays from India, China, Japan, Iran, Nigeria, Turkey, and Egypt; and they are placed into chronological periods - from ancient to modern times. This volume, drawn from a wide variety of forms and genres, demonstrates the richness and the diversity of both the traditional and modern non-Western theaters – from Sanskrit drama to contemporary African theater. For each country, there is a brief background of theater history that illustrates how cultural, religious, and political influences shaped the non-Western dramas.