top of page

Spring fairy

Making a documentary about my nomadic roots, how I mixed a personal story with ethnographic research

Project Overview

I made Spring Fairy to enter the film course at Norwich University of the Arts. They asked for a 10-minute short-form video that represents me as a person, my history, my style of filmmaking, and my perspective towards the world I live in. I was mostly raised in the mountains of Iran, so I decided to make a film about a bedtime story my grandmother used to tell me in our tent. 

The Approach

I pitched the idea to my parents and local charities that support nomadic groups, and I was able to collect a budget to buy a Canon 90D camera. Then I started researching resources for my grandmother's story, the Lar Mountains in Iran, and the nomadic groups who live there.  I shaped this research into a text, and based on the text, I developed a foundation for the shots I would like to cover. This nomadic trip is only possible once a year in summer, so I had to plan strictly to make sure I'm not losing the momentum.  I called one of the nomadic families and told them about the project; they agreed to participate. Also, I emailed the security guards of the mountains and sent them the text, and let them know that this is a safe project, and I'm not spying in the mountains. They permitted me to bring the camera to the mountains in Iran. One of my problems was that I didn’t have enough budget to buy extra batteries, so I was working with only one, and there was no electricity in the tents. I borrowed a donkey from the nomadic families and, every day after the shoot, I would ride it for an hour to reach a place where I could charge the battery. The next morning, I would go back with the donkey to collect it again. This way, I was able to keep the filming

The Results

  • The Documentary is narrated in both English and Persian. and it reached more than 15K views in Iran.

  • I got into the University. They removed the foundation year for me and sent me directly to year one.

  • I won the Vice-Chancellor's Global Undergraduate Award worth £15,000.

  • The film reached the quarter-final stage at the Student World Impact Film Festival for Best Documentary.

  • Spring Fairy got screened in Cinema City, Norwich, on 31st of January 2024.

© 2026 Vafa Bagheri. All Rights Reserved
bottom of page