Women's activism in Iran finds voice in Our Times

The Western world has painted a tragic portrait of women within the Islamic Republic of Iran. To many, these women are simply a veiled sisterhood; oppressed by the archaic vestiges of a culture that time forgot. Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad strives to smash this notion by highlighting the incredible diversity of Iran's women in her latest cinematic work, Our Times.

This weekend, Our Times and several of Bani-Etemad's other works will debut during the MFA Film Program's annual Festival of Films from Iran. The festival is a month-long series that will run from Nov. 14 through Dec. 14, and the films this weekend provide a moving glimpse at the human lives that are touched by an Iran that is undergoing rapid change.

Bani-Etemad's documentary is a two-part series that highlights the quest of zealous female university students to re-elect liberal reformist Muhammad Khatami. Later, the film delves into the precarious mission of a young mother (Arezoo Bayat) turned presidential candidate. In Our Times, a youthful sense of passion guides both the university students and this heroine as women's activism within Iran finds a visual face.

Arezoo Bayat, featured in the film's second half, is an attractive woman in financial straits, battling both fierce political opposition to her candidacy and the day to day fight to simply stay alive. Single motherhood, the difficulties of providing health care for her blind mother, and the fierce political opposition of Iran's 2001 elections are no walk in the park. There were 411 candidates in that last election, of which only 48 were women: the stakes were grim. Our Times is poignantly clear when it comes to delivering this message.

Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is a vocal proponent in the movement for women's political expression in Iran. Born in Teheran in 1954, Bani-Etemad went on to study film at the University of Dramatic Arts in the Iranian capital. In 1973, she joined the staff of Iran's national television station as a script girl. She was later promoted to assistant director, then producer, and then manager. In 1977, she went on to direct her first documentary films for television. It was then that her deep love for the documentary medium was spawned and it continues today to serve as a pervasive influence in her work.

In 1991, Bani-Etemad was the first woman to win the Best Director award at Iran's premier Film Festival, the Fajr, for her work Nargess. Bani-Etemad's name is now recognized internationally as her works continue to spark interest of audiences all over the world. Although women's roles continue to teeter vulnerably in the tenuous balance of complete repression and moderate liberalism within the republic of Iran, Bani-Etemad's work has given a powerful voice and means of expression to the silent.

In addition to Our Times, the program will include several other Iranian pieces: the work of feminist director Tamineh Milani (The Fifth Reaction), the experimental film Black Tape, and Silence Between Two Thoughts, a film by Babak Payami, a director who lives in self-imposed exile.