Freedom is something that lives in your heart.
Weekly Directed By Women Viewing Guide
This week I am recommending a restored Iranian classic, an experimental biographical film, a charming coming-of-age lesbian film from the 1990s, two girl dad gems, an Amy Holden Jones double feature, and a documentary about the Great March of Return protests that took place in the Gaza Strip in 2018 and 2019.
The new restoration of Marva Nabili’s tremendous feminist drama The Sealed Soil, the earliest extant feature film directed by an Iranian woman, is still playing theaters across the country. I also had the honor of speaking to Nabili for my column this month. Here is a bit from our conversation:
When the film was first released, you discussed in interviews how difficult it was for a woman to make films in Iran, but now, obviously, there are a lot of difficulties, I think for a lot of filmmakers in the country.
We used to have a very good film industry there. Very broad-minded and really nice filmmakers were there, because there was freedom. Also, the Shah wanted to modernize cities and wanted Iranian people to be modernized, not like the rulers that are there now. After the Revolution, it totally changed. What the filmmakers did then was very modern, but I don’t know what’s happening now.
What do you hope audiences today will take from your film?
Well, I want them to know about this social problem that women had. In the villages at that time, women had to get married when they were very young, sometimes twelve or thirteen. But there were women who refused. That was my whole purpose: to show that things were changing.
You can find upcoming tickets and showtimes for the restoration here.
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