This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.

With its universal themes and fascinating narrative knots, Close-up has resonated with viewers around the world.

Starling Collective is a community-based organisation that supports and empowers people seeking asylum and those who have been granted refugee status. Their work is collaborative and participatory, with services shaped and led by people with lived experience.

The organisation provides compassionate, trauma-informed support through volunteer-led advice services, mental health programmes, welfare support, and help with accessing education, training, volunteering and employment opportunities. Starling Collective is committed to creating safe and welcoming spaces where people are valued beyond labels, and where resilience, culture and community are celebrated.