Abstract:
This article explores Iranian women's identities reflected in documentary films made during the post revolution era. By doing so, it draws attention to the complexities of representation with regard to the position of women and the current cultural policies in Iran from a legal, religious, and traditional point of view. The documentary films are divided into two categories: those made by Iranians residing in Iran and those made by the Diaspora documentary filmmakers, we then examine and compare their content and themes. This will in turn demonstrate the relationship between the two groups of Iranian documentary film makers and the subjects they address. The selected documentaries made in Iran for this study are sponsored by the state, through the Experimental and Documentary Film Centre (DEFC). This essay will analyze the way the two categories of documentary films [by state and Diaspora] address women’s issues through the themes they cover, their agendas, as well as the adopted aesthetics. These documentary films show the social empowerment of Iranian women as active agents in a society that sets obstacles in women’s paths. The comparison of the two categories of documentary films may thus show the relation between Iranians residing in Iran and those in the Diaspora, which can play a role in Iran’s position internationally. This research looks into three films: Mokarrameh, Article 61 and Divorce, Iranian Style. It will also assess their content and character, and explain what each documentary reflects regarding women’s status in society in that particular era with respect to its theme i.e. law, tradition and religion.
Machine summary:
Rahimieh studies three films, Divorce, Iranian Style (Ziba Mir- Hosseini and Kim Longinotto, 1998), Blackboards (Samira Makhmalbaf, 2000) and Ceasefire (Tahmineh Milani, 2006), and addresses how women from different social classes deal with the established family law and social norms, whether they are from tribal-rural backgrounds or from more modern/urban backgrounds.
The themes addressed in documentary films made by filmmakers residing outside Iran, include prostitution in Iran, homosexual rights, female political prisoners, divorce for women, child custody, and stories of returning home, returning to the past, or returning to childhood (Naficy, 2009).
Among the major writers on Iranian Cinema are Hamid Naficy (An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking, 2001), Hamid Dabashi (Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema, 2007), Mehrnaz Saeedvafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum,, (Abbas Kiarostami, 2003), Hamid-Reza Sadr (Iranian Cinema: A Political History, 2006), Nasrin Rahimieh (‘Divorce Seen Through Women’s Cinematic Lens’, Iranian Studies, 2009), Mehdi Semati (Media, Society and Culture In Iran: Living with Globalization and the Islamic State, 2008), Richard Tapper (The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity, 2002), Reza Shirvani (‘Issues and Paradoxes in the Development of the Iranian National Cinema: An Overview’, Iranian Studies, June 2008), Roxanne Varzi (Warring Souls: Youth, Media and Martyrdom in Post Revolutionary Iran, 2006), Shahla Lahiji (‘Chaste Dolls and Unchaste Dolls: Women in Iranian Cinema Since 1979’, The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity) and Gonul Donmez-Colin (Cinemas of the Other: A Personal Journey with Filmmakers from the Middle East).