‘The Red Suitcase,’ debuted in Rhode Island last year, now nominated for an Oscar

Director of "The Red Suitcase" raises awareness of women's rights through film.

March 10, 2023 12:05 pm

Taralynn Asack,

This is a photo from a scene from "The Red Suitcase," which is nominated for an Oscar, Sunday, March 12, 2023. (Rhode Island Film Festival)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Rhode Island International Film Festival debuted a short film last year that’s now nominated for an Oscar.

“The Red Suitcase” is up for best live action short at the 95th Academy Awards. Director Cyrus Neshvad created the short to raise awareness of the revolution of women in Iran.

The film tells the story of an Iranian teenager sent to an airport to marry an older man she has never met.

Neshvad said George Marshall, the late director of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, gave his film a chance when no one else would.

“Before this, nobody wanted it and I came to him and he watched the movie and he straight wrote me back and said this was a necessary movie. We have to show this. The biggest moment of my movie was in Rhode Island,” Neshvad told ABC 6 News.

The Oscars air this Sunday at 8 p.m. on ABC.