Red Names
(Nahrassidand Az Marg)
A film by Amin Zarghami & Shahrzad Arshadi
1999, 12 min

This is a short video celebrating the legacy of thousands of women who lost their lives in Iran between 1979 and 1999 due to their political, social and religious beliefs. For Amin Zarghami & Shahrzad Arshadi, working on this video was an opportunity to pay tribute to the memory of these women-some of whom they knew personally-and grieve their loss. It is intended as a testament both to their suffering and to the political tyranny that led to their execution.

www.shahrzadarshadi.com

The Corridor
A film by Zoe Nirizi
2004, 27 min

The Corridor tells the story of a young Iranian woman who becomes politically active in opposing Ayatollah Khomeini's regime in the 1980's. She is made to pay a heavy price, not only in terms of her immediate suffering, her torture and imprisonment at the hands of the regime, but the deeper pain of having her daughter, born in prison, taken away by the authorities, to be brought up by her husband's family. She is then forced to leave Iran and comes to Britain. The Corridor connects the personal and the political through an unflinching look at the nature of organized State violence and by the price paid by those who stand up to it. The film aims at a poetic realism, that both gives the viewer a moral perspective on the events and shows their devastating effects on those caught up in them

The Tree That Remembers
A film by Masoud Raouf
2002, 50 min

In 1992 a young Iranian student hanged himself on the outskirts of a small Ontario town. Having escaped the Ayatollah's regime and found a new home in Canada, he could not escape his past. News of the young strangers death hit tome with Masoud Raouf. He too was part of the generation who fought for democracy during the reign of the Shah. With The Tree that Remembers, Raouf assembled a group of Iranians -all former political prisoners like himself, who were active in the democratic movement. Blending their testimony with historical footage and original artwork, he honours the memory of the dead and celebrates the resilience of the living.

Shekoufeh, petite and soft-spoken, spent eight years in jail, confined for months on end in a coffin-like box. Reza, now a professor of economics, has written about his imprisonment in Weeping Tulips. Firouzeh was separated from her family for years, following a 10-minute trial before a group of fundamentalist clerics.

Ex-political prisoners who have gone through this experience build walls around themselves, says Farzad. Their eyes have been opened to the capability of all mankind to inflict such evil. And this intuitive sensitivity remains in them.

Framing these accounts are scenes from Iran's recent past. The cruel ironies of history are startling in 1979 footage of International Women's Day. Enthusiastic crowds of women take to the streets of Tehran, young and old, walking arm-in-arm towards a better tomorrow. Having helped to topple the brutal regime that had come to power in the 1953 CIA-backed coup, they are buoyant with victory and hope. A new day is dawning. How can they foresee the dark age about to engulf them?

Throughout Raouf uses his own animated artwork to create an imagined sanctuary, shimmering.

Award of Commendation

American Anthropological Association
November 19 to 22 2003, Chicago - USA
Bronze Plaque Award - Category: Social Issues

International Film and Video Festival
November 1 2003, Columbus - USA
Bronze Plaque Award - Category: Social Issues

International Film and Video Festival
October 23 to 25 2002, Columbus - USA
Golden Sheaf Award - Category: Best Documentary Social

Golden Sheaf Awards /Short Film and Video Festival
May 23 to 26 2002, Yorkton - Canada
Silver Award for Best Canadian Documentary - with a cash prize 5,000$

Hot Docs
April 26 to May 5 2002, Toronto - Canada

www.masoudraouf.com