'It was crazy:' Charlottetown teen journeys to LA, TIFF, and maybe the Oscars

It has always been Mahdi Selseleh's dream to be a filmmaker, and since he graduated from Charlottetown's Colonel Gray High School in June he has made a good start.

The 18-year-old Selseleh grew up in Tehran, Iran, and moved to Charlottetown when he was in Grade 7. But he's been back to Iran almost every summer, working on films there.

"The cool thing about the Iranian film industry is they make the best film with the minimum equipment," he said.

The road to TIFF

He was back in Iran after graduating, where he connected with Shahab Hosseini, who won the best actor award at Cannes last year for his performance in The Salesman. Hosseini asked Selseleh to be his manager, and Selseleh has since helped Hosseini with his move to Los Angeles.

"It was crazy the things that happened to me since the start of the summer until now," said Selseleh.

"In Los Angeles I met lots of new people, from Iran, really good actors from Iran and also actors from Los Angeles and big agents from Hollywood."

Selseleh accompanied Hosseini to the Toronto International Film Festival for further promotion of The Salesman, often acting as a translator.  If The Salesman wins an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, Selseleh could find himself at the Oscars.

Back to California

In the meantime, Selseleh is working on his own filmmaking.

He was back in LA this fall, working on a short documentary. He also has a documentary of his own in the works about a legendary Iranian film actor, currently retired and living in San Francisco.

Selseleh said he hasn't allowed the situations he's found himself in to intimidate him, and just focused on communicating what he has to offer.

"If you want something, you can get it no matter what, and that's what I've been following," he said.

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