Twyford documentary maker wins Netflix grant

A documentary film maker from Twyford has said that winning one of this year’s five Netflix Documentary Talent Funds has helped to keep her in the industry after taking maternity leave.

Anna Snowball beat thousands of other hopeful film makers with her pitch for ‘Iranian Yellow Pages’, a story about people trying to find connections in a foreign city.

Anna and her team, which includes her film editor and husband Abolfazl Talooni, will now produce a short 8-12 minute documentary using the fund’s £30,000 grant, plus bootcamp training, mentor programme and practical support.

This is the second time that the independent film and commercial director and producer has applied to the fund and she feels now the timing is right.  

“I’ve been on maternity leave since March last year and before that I never had time to make anything of my own because I was taking commissions from people or jobs for broadcasters.

“Doing my job required me to be away for long periods of time and be flexible and I can’t be flexible anymore and so what’s nice about this is I can do it on the days when I have childcare because I am in charge of my time so this is just so unique and I think it’s the only thing that could keep me in the film industry.”

Anna’s company, Snow Films, has produced films for the BBC, The Postcode Lottery and together with Abolfazl, her work has been celebrated around the world for its human rights messages.

Pitching for Netflix, however, brought with it a renewed sense of the nerves.        

“It was a lot bigger than I was imaging. Pitches I’ve done in the past you go into a conference room and there might be three people in there. It’s a pitch but also a conversation, but this was bigger. There were about 20 people all in a row. 

“There were a few sleepless nights. We did it on the Friday and then on the Sunday evening we got the call to say we’d got it and I’m glad because on Sunday I felt like I wasn’t going to sleep that night.”

The Iranian Yellow Pages will tell the charming story of adverts placed in a series of London’s Iranian newspapers.

Mainly found in Iranian-owned shops, laundrettes and restaurants enclosed within the pages are messages from Iranians looking for anything from dance partners to business investments. The main thing is, they are looking to connect.

“We just started reading them and thinking these are lovely and intriguing because you’d get lots of ‘pizza shop to rent’  and then alongside that there was ‘I will do a free puppet show anytime - call me’ or ‘I’m looking for a meaningful relationship’. There were some poetic adverts too.

“So we started calling up a few people and even some of the duller adverts turned out to have very interesting people posting them so we started collecting interesting stories over the years. That’s where the project came from.”

Anna said that she and Iranian- born Abolfazl have been planning this project for a while. “We’ve been thinking about and working on for a few years and thinking gosh, it would be amazing  if someone would let us make this so he’s going to be editing it and producing it and I’m directing and producing it.”

Ultimately, the duo are hoping for a better understanding for what it is like to be Iranian and living in London today.

Anna said this hasn’t really been represented in film before.

“You get people who have no point of reference for Iran. They might think it’s Iraq or they don’t know anything about it.

“It's a little insight into what the country used to be or could have been or is trying to be. It’s also very amusing and eccentric and a bit sad. It’s a lot of people trying to connect and not quite having their roots anywhere.”

After several meetings and a training bootcamp at Netflix Anna said she and Abolfazl are ready to get down to the hard work of production.

“The initial excitement has worn off now and it’s getting into the planning and thinking and I’m in the  creative stage of it now. Reality has hit and I’m working on it now.”

Iranian Yellow Pages will screen on Netflix’s YouTube channel in early 2024.