Iranian women take centre stage at Sundance film festival
Movies by and about Iranian women took centre stage at the Sundance film festival this weekend, as diaspora filmmakers reflected on female-led protests and the deadly challenges of censorship and resistance in their ancestral home.
"Joonam," a documentary about a three-generation family of Iranian women now living in Vermont, and "The Persian Version," a colourful but candid dramedy which hops between Iran and New York over several decades, received world premieres.
"Shayda," a drama directed by Noora Niasari about a Persian woman who flees her abusive husband in Australia, debuted earlier at the high-profile independent film festival in Utah.
Their inclusion in Sundance's line-up follows four months of mass demonstrations in Iran.
The protesters "are literally putting themselves on the line... I stand in support of them 100 percent," said "Joonam" director Sierra Urich.
"You can't speak freely in Iran, they're imprisoning filmmakers and imprisoning artists," Urich said.
"I can speak freely outside of Iran -- to an extent."
Iran has arrested a number of celebrities from the country's film industry in connection with the protest movement. Renowned director Jafar Panahi has been in prison six months following an earlier conviction for "propaganda against the system."
"Coming into Sundance, the film is on the world stage. I think Iranians are always weighing how truthful they will be, versus what they will say, causing consequences for people that are back home," said Urich.
