As exclusively reported in Variety, MPI filmmaker Elizabeth Mirzaei’s most recent documentary short Three Songs for Benazir has been acquired by Netflix. The film has also qualified for Academy Award consideration in the documentary short category. 

Set to stream next year, Three Songs for Benazir follows the story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a camp for displaced persons in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Even as Shaista’s love for Benazir is palpable, the choices he must make to build a life with her have profound consequences.

Elizabeth is an award-winning filmmaker who has been in our filmmaker network for many years. She is a former intern in MPI’s Hollywood Career Launch Program where she was placed at Millennium Films. Elizabeth has participated in numerous MPI workshops and masterclasses including the MPI Short Film Creative Development and Production Lab, our cinematography workshop Moving Picturecraft, and the Documentary Storytelling Workshop, which she now regularly speaks at as an expert. 

She and her husband Gulistan founded Mirzaei Films and have since gone on to create award-winning documentaries supported by the Tribeca Film Institute, CalHumanities, Women in Film, Points North Institute, IFP, and the Bertha Foundation.

This Netflix acquisition is a major achievement for the directing duo and we couldn’t be more proud of their continued success—congratulations!