Amid the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s, a father-daughter relationship blooms in “In the Garden of Tulips.”

The short film, written by alumnus Ava Lalezarzadeh, follows Caroline (Lalezarzadeh) and her father Sharif (Iman Nazemzadeh) during their final car ride to the Iranian countryside. As the daughter of two immigrants who left Iran in 1988 during the war, Lalezarzadeh said her background and connection to the Iran-Iraq conflict was the direct inspiration behind this period piece. Specifically, she said she credits her mother’s story of leaving Iran as the catalyst behind Caroline’s journey in “In the Garden of Tulips.”

“She often talked about this final moment of leaving as one of the most pivotal moments of her life, … specifically the last car ride that she took with her dad on the way to the drop-off point where she would meet a smuggler that would take her out of the country,” Lalezarzadeh said. “I know, at that moment, that she had nobody else. She didn’t know she’d see her family again. She didn’t know if she’d ever see her homeland again.”

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Julia Elihu, the director of “In the Garden of Tulips,” said the slow-paced nature of the film and deeper story behind it were the most influential aspects that initially drew her to the project. As an Iranian American woman herself, Elihu said Lalezarzadeh’s script distinctively resonated with her, as the premise matched her cultural ties and desire to showcase such a personal story.

“It’s a special thing to take a story that we haven’t really seen yet and bring it to light,” Elihu said. “I felt like this was the perfect script to do that with. It really aligned with my values and what I care about, and I could see it coming together really beautifully.”

When it came to researching life and culture in Iran during the war, Lalezarzadeh said both she and Elihu utilized their own cultural backgrounds. In order to give the film a grounded and authentic feel, she said they both turned to family members, interviewing their relatives about their individualized experiences. Scott Abramson, a former lecturer in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department at UCLA, also fact-checked the writing and helped ensure the short film was an accurate depiction of Iran in the 1980s, Lalezarzadeh added.

Considering “In the Garden of Tulips” functions as a road movie, period piece and foreign language film all at once, there were many different elements to the film that were often tricky to develop, said producer and alumnus Aaron Lemle. Out of all the challenges the production team faced, he said one of the larger difficulties was finding ways to visualize the feel of Iran onscreen. As director, Elihu said she studied how other Iranian filmmakers depicted the nation in their own works, citing Abbas Kiarostami’s film “Taste of Cherry” as a major source of inspiration.

“Being that I’ve never been to Iran, it’s definitely a hard thing to capture because you’re replicating a country you’ve only really seen in movies,” Elihu said. “The biggest thing for me was watching Iranian films and being inspired by the way that they shot the countryside landscape. … (It’s) almost like making the landscape of the country a character in and of itself.”

Lemle said many of the audience members who have attended screenings of “In the Garden of Tulips” have expressed their surprise that it was shot in Agua Dulce in Los Angeles rather than Iran itself. In order to pass off Northern LA as a foreign country, Elihu said she utilized specific techniques to disguise the surrounding area, such as focusing in on the actors and making sure to shoot tighter and faster-paced sequences. Lalezarzadeh said the selection of music also helped immerse the audience into the tense environment of the Iranian landscape, namely the inclusion of the pro-regime song that plays during one of the most pivotal moments of the film.

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Audiences in LA will have the opportunity to watch this short film at the upcoming HollyShorts Film Festival, Lalezarzadeh said, taking place Aug. 11 at the TCL Chinese Theatre. Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, she said “In the Garden of Tulips” was able to use a SAG Short Project Agreement, which is allowed under the current SAG strike rules and is not affiliated under a TV or theatrical contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

For viewers at the upcoming festival, Elihu said she wants all audience members – especially those who lack familiarity with the Iran-Iraq conflict – to be able to connect with Caroline and Sharif’s story. Lalezarzadeh said she hopes “In the Garden of Tulips” helps audiences relate to those who are facing political upheaval and reminds them that these struggles can happen to anyone.

“Anybody watching this film can understand what loss is like, what grief is like, what … saying goodbye is like. You don’t have to go through a revolution to deeply understand this fear of loss and separation,” Lalezarzadeh said. “I think we have this idea of who immigrants are and what they look like, but this is really just a normal family.”