We Iranian Women

Distributed by epf media, 324 S. Beverly Drive, PMB 437, Beverly Hills, CA 90212; 310-839-1500Produced by Didi Gnocchi and Gloria BogiDirected by Sabina Fedeli and Anna Migotto2023, Streaming, 57 mins Directors Sabina Fedeli and Anna Migotto have crafted a powerful film with We Iranian Women. At just under an hour of running time, each minute is deeply impactful. Armed and violent conflict has consumed much of the Middle East over the past several years and we may fail to comprehend the scale of the destruction of human life. However, this film presents an intimate and personal picture of the tragic histories of Iranian women who rebel against the repressive society in which they live. The protests at the center of this documentary were a reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022. Her scarf had slipped loose, and she was arrested by the morality police; she died while in custody. Her death set off a wave of protest and retaliation by the Ayatollah’s regime. The first protesters were killed in December of 2022, and set off a further cycle of aggressive protests and retaliatory arrests and killings. As the filmmakers illustrate, the coercive nature of the retaliation extends beyond the women involved in the protests themselves: women are killed in prisons, as well as by suicide, in part because the regime threatens the families of the protesters so that they accept the government’s version of events. The film demonstrates how the morality police overstep their purview to the extent that wide swaths of Iranian society have revolted against their harsh enforcement methods, going on strike to oppose the regime. As one woman says in the film, “be afraid of our anger.” There is a point of desperation that Iranian society has clearly reached, where protesters feel as though there is nothing left to lose in resisting the repressive rule of the regime. As the documentary illustrates, Iranians carve out private freedoms amid public repression; the protests only serve to heighten the cracks in the regime’s system of enforcement and oppression. The directors provide helpful context for viewers with a brief overview of contemporary Iranian history. They highlight the ideological shifts in Iranian government and society, from the shah’s rule to the 1978 uprising, to the return of the Ayatollah in 1979. This context is vital to understand the different generational experiences of the Iranian people. The historical background illustrates how the Ayatollah’s regime has a history of systematically suppressing young people’s protest through violence, coercion, and executions; one horrific example included were the mass executions of thousands of people at prisons all over the country 1988. The Human Rights Watch has monitored these killings, and more information can be found at Human Rights Watch. At its heart, the Iranian protests are not so different from protests we’ve seen in recent years in the United States; both center on the basic human right of control over one’s body. Whether the choice is whether to wear the veil or reproductive freedom, it is the right to make a choice rather than be compelled. Speaking about the issues of bodily autonomy in this country, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson stated at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, “We cannot call ourselves a free nation when women are not free.” This puts the U.S. in bleak parallel with the religious, totalitarian Iranian regime. With these similarities in mind, the women interviewed for the documentary urge the international community to take substantive action: impose additional sanctions and obstruct the nuclear deal until protections and freedoms for women are guaranteed and enshrined in law, for example. And indeed, several of the women interviewed - members of the Iranian diaspora - are highly accomplished experts in their fields: literature, film and theater, politics, academia. They serve as a testament to what women can do with freedom, self-determination, and opportunity. Fideli and Migotto have crafted a powerful argument in praise of the endurance and strength of womankind that is recommended viewing for upper secondary grades and above. Awards:Best Documentary, Cinema d'iDEA, Italy

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