Woman, Life, Freedom
This week marks the first anniversary of the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, following her arrest by the Iranian morality police for allegedly violating mandatory dress codes. Her death has triggered ongoing protests characterized by the chant "Woman, Life, Freedom." This week, we offer a selection of films by women directors from Iran.
180 Degree Rule
(خط فرضی)
When a schoolteacher's husband suddenly forbids her to attend a wedding in northern Iran, she makes a choice with far-reaching consequences.
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- Iran • 2020
- Director Farnoosh Samadi
- Cast Sahar Dolatshahi, Pejman Jamshidi, Hassan Pourshirazi, Azita Hajian, Amirreza Ranjbaran
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel
The Snow Calls
Mina has three daughters and is now pregnant with her fourth child. The people of her community – including her husband – believe that a man must have at least one son.
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- Iran • 2020
- Director Marjan Khosravi
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Ava
Coming-of-age in Tehran, a young girl starts to rebel against against the strictures imposed by her school and the society at large.
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- Iran, Canada, Qatar • 2017
- Director Sadaf Foroughi
- Cast Mahour Jabbari, Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla
Sonita
An Afghan girl, her passion for music, and her parents’ plan to sell her hand in marriage for $9,000.
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- Germany, Switzerland, Iran • 2015
- Director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
- Cast Sonita Alizadeh, Ahmad Ahmadi, Latifah Alizadeh, Fadia Alizadeh, Arefe, Farzaneh Davoodi
- Genre Documentary, Music
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tales
(قصه ها)
Tales draws together threads from the director’s previous films and weaves them together to create a portrait of working class society in Iran.
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- Iran • 2014
- Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
- Cast Habib Rezaei, Mohammad Reza Foroutan, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Golab Adineh, Mehdi Hashemi
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
About 111 Girls
(درباره ی ۱۱۱ دختر)
A government bureaucrat is sent by the president to investigate the case of 111 young women threatening to jump off a cliff together in Iranian Kurdistan.
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- Iran • 2012
- Director Nahid Ghobadi, Bijan Zmanpira
- Cast Reza Behboudi, Mehdi Saki, Amin Sadeghi
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, Tubi TV
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame
(بودا از شرم فرو ریخت)
A young girl in Afghanistan desperately wants to go to school and learn to read and write, but isn’t allowed to.
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- Iran, France, Afghanistan • 2007
- Director Hana Makhmalbaf
- Cast Habbas Alijome, Abdolali Huseinali, Nikbakht Noruz
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Our Times
(روزگار ما)
A documentary about the 2002 presidential election in Iran.
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- Iran • 2002
- Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
- Cast Pegah Ahangarani, Arezu Bayat, Reza Davoudnejad, Ehsan Delaviz, Baran Kosari
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Film Movement Plus
Women's Prison
(زندان زنان)
The story of two women in an Iranian women's prison: the strict new prison warden and a young midwife, who is serving her sentence for killing her mother's abusive husband.
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- Iran • 2002
- Director Manijeh Hekmat
- Cast Roya Nownahali, Roya Taymourian, Pegah Ahangarani, Golab Adine, Maryam Boubani
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video
Divorce Iranian Style
A look inside an Iranian divorce court.
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- Iran, United Kingdom • 1998
- Director Ziba Mir-Hosseini
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Kanopy
The Apple
(سیب)
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
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- Iran, France, Netherlands • 1998
- Director Samira Makhmalbaf
- Cast Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi, Azizeh Mohamadi, Zahra Saghrisaz
- Genre Drama
- Available on Kanopy
Nargess
(نرگس)
Adel is a thief, beloved by his partner in crime, Afagh. But then he meets the beautiful young Nargess...
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- Iran • 1992
- Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
- Cast Farimah Farjami, Atefeh Razavi, Abolfazl Pourarab, Reza Karam Rezai, Niousha Noor, Baran Kosari
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.