Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s 1979 in Tehran, and the students are angry. In a wave of nationalism and opposition to the government’s oppressive laws, thousands of young men and women have taken to the streets. The Shah of Iran flees the country, making way for a revolution, led by a religious leader returned from exile. The country rejoices… but within a matter of weeks, the new religious government under Ayatollah Khomeini proves to be much more restrictive and oppressive than the one it replaced. Within weeks, women were back on the street protesting the new government’s Hijab Decree and the loss of basic human rights by women. Today, the fight by women protesting the loss of their autonomy continues, with many women brutally attacked or even killed. What led to this war on women and how have they responded?

A War on Women is a new and deeply moving documentary that tells the history of the struggle for women’s rights in Iran over more than half a century. It shows both renowned feminist leaders and ordinary anonymous Iranians. It’s shot using period and contemporary video footage, some of which is quite shocking, plus brand new interviews. A War on Women is directed by Raha Shirazi and co-written with Samira Mohyeddin. Raha is an award-winning, European-based, Iranian-Canadian filmmaker; A War on Women is her first feature and the most personal of all her works so far.

I spoke with Raha Shirazi in person at CIUT.

A War on Women had its International premiere at Hotdocs.