Fri, Aug 15th, 10:00 PM @ TCL CHINESE 6 THEATRE || #6
By Valerie Milano
Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times) 8/8/25 – In Kisses and Bullets, writer-director Faranak Sahafian crafts a vivid, emotionally charged portrait of two Iranian women who, despite oceans and regimes between them, find common ground through resistance and ultimately, connection. Premiering in the Romance Block at HollyShorts 2025 at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the film pulses with urgency, tenderness, and the quiet rebellion of simply existing in one’s truth.
Told with striking visual clarity and emotional precision, the short juxtaposes two parallel stories: one set in Tehran, where protesting can cost you your life, and the other in New York, where expression may be safer but no less potent. The women on both ends share a singular act—one kiss—captured in photos that cross borders and digital boundaries, igniting a sense of global solidarity. The film’s turning point comes when these photos go viral, creating a symbolic mirror between the women’s lives and highlighting the collective yearning for freedom.
“After watching my film, I hope people think about how kisses can overcome bullets,” Sahafian told me during our interview. “It’s about the love we put out there, and the way we portray the life we want to have.”
That idea, the radical act of loving under oppression, anchors Kisses and Bullets and gives it both political gravitas and romantic soul.
During our conversation, Sahafian, who is based in Los Angeles by way of Iran, shared that the inspiration for the film came during the height of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022. “There were days I was going to solitary protests here in the U.S., while friends in Iran were doing the same at much higher stakes,” she recalled. That duality, she explained, sparked the idea of a story where two women, worlds apart, fight the same battle for dignity and expression.
Click below for our exclusive interview:
“It was the first time I really felt like we were all living the same life,” Sahafian said. “We were all fearing something, and we were all fighting for the same things.”
Despite the geographical split, the film doesn’t feel fragmented. That’s thanks in part to Sahafian’s dedication to authenticity. From performance to production design, she and her team (notably her production designer, Julie, and DP, CC) worked tirelessly to ensure that the Tehran scenes felt true to life. “We made sure visually everything made sense, especially in the Tehran parts,” she noted.
One of the film’s most memorable elements is the central image,a pair of lovers kissing, both in Tehran and in New York. It’s not just a narrative device, but a symbolic act of defiance. “That photo was one of the first images that came to my mind,” she said. “A couple kissing in New York and one in Iran… it’s like they know each other’s struggle without really knowing each other.” That idea of connected struggle of unspoken, transnational sisterhood is what elevates Kisses and Bullets from a film about protest to a meditation on shared humanity. And in a time when women’s rights are being challenged around the globe, its resonance could not be timelier.
Sahafian, a recent MFA graduate from Columbia University, hopes to continue screening the film in Los Angeles and beyond, with upcoming dates to be announced on the film’s Instagram: @kissandbullets and her own personal page @byfaranak.
With Kisses and Bullets, Sahafian doesn’t just tell a story she captures a movement, a moment, and a message that lingers that the simplest acts of intimacy and love can be revolutionary.
Follow more of our coverage from HollyShorts 2025 at TheHollywoodTimes.today and on YouTube at The Hollywood Times Official.
