The visual legacy of “Woman, Life, Freedom”; recording a forbidden reality on the cinema screen

🔸A few months after the autumn of 1401 and, alongside the expansion of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, changes that had been flowing through Iranian society in some way for years gradually entered cinema in a more obvious form.

🔸Women without mandatory hijab appeared in the streets, and in cinema as well, some actors and filmmakers decided not to rebuild the image of Iranian women according to the official rules of the Islamic Republic anymore, and to depict the reality of society on the cinema screen.

🔸The consequence was the expansion of a current that one could call “unofficial,” “independent,” or, in some cases, “underground” cinema; if before the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, independent filmmakers and those active in the unofficial sphere still adhered in their works to certain red lines of the Islamic Republic and did not cross them, but after that, the boldness to depict reality on the cinema screen grew more and more among some filmmakers.

🔸As a result, productions were made inside Iran in which not only hijab was no longer used as a forced element, but some of society’s serious demands and concerns—especially those of women—were also raised in them.

🔸Read the full report on the Radio Farda website.