Driving Lessons

Famed actress Susan Taslimi plays three roles here: Kian, who doubts her identity; Vida, the twin sister, a self-assured artist; and their mother, who gives up one child out of fear of poverty, then deprives the other of affection because she deeply regrets the child whom she has abandoned.

In the near future, when getting an abortion has once again become a criminal offense, Kara is confronted by a grim and brutal reality. Even though obvious dangers are at play, she seeks out the services of an illegal mobile abortion clinic. Once inside the meanders of this morbid clinic, she is confronted with the consequences of her painful decision. Not only are her life and freedom in danger, but Kara is unprepared to face the emotional repercussions that her decision will have on her and those around her.

In a small valley, riders pursue and kill a man. A horse thief, so his assassins claim. But for his ten year old son Issa, the disappearance of his father causes an avalanche of problems. With the family name stigmatized, Issa is bullied by the other children in the village. While his mother fights to clear her husbands name, Issa is left to his own devices. But unexpectedly, his solitude gives birth to his freedom, his real passion, horses.

Dash Akol is greatly respected in Shiraz as an honorable man who has lost his family's money through helping his friends. He has an enemy, however, named Kaka Rostam, a mean and spiteful person. Dash Akol, who is in his forties, falls in love with Marjan, daughter of the late Haji Samad, for whose estate he is the executor. But he keeps his love secret. One day a suitor asks for Marjan's hand, and Dash Akol considers it against his code of honor to refuse. On the night of the wedding, Dash Akol hands over responsibility for the family to the bridegroom. As he is leaving the house, however, Kaka Rostam is waiting for him and a fight ensues. Kaka Rostam stabs him in the back, but Dash Akol succeeds in killing him. On his deathbed, Dash Akol sends his parrot to Marjan with the confession of love he has taught it.

Valeh, a member of a leftist organization, is arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to death. In prison, he reconsiders his relationships with members of his political cell, and begins to doubt the validity of the ideas for which he is condemned. At the same time, his comrades pressure him to make a sacrifice for their cause, and his beloved wife experiences personal problems and economic hardships.

A woman of nobility battles patriarchal norms in order to improve educational access for women in early 1900s Indonesian society.

Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.

Bahram Beyzai's poetic imagining of the circumstances that led to the death of Yazdgerd III, the last of the Sassanid kings of Iran. His death in 651, during the Arab invasions that brought Islam to this Zoroastrian realm, was mysterious: his corpse was discovered in a mill, but the cause of his death—and the whereabouts of his remains—are unknown.

An urban guerrilla, wounded after a bank robbery, seeks refuge with his childhood friend—only to discover that his friend has fallen into addiction. The guerrilla hides in his house and gradually begins to influence him, helping him regain his courage and strength. Eventually, he entrusts the stolen money to him…

Two women rebel against the traditions of a village society.

England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.

Estimados Señores sheds light on the little-known suffragette movement in Colombia. Set in 1954, the film follows Esmeralda Arboleda, a fiercely intelligent leader, who ignites a revolution in a society rooted in patriarchal traditions, culminating in a fierce and decisive debate. A group of women embark on a historic struggle to bring women's voting rights to the National Constituent Assembly. With bold marches, radio appearances and a brilliant media strategy that places them on the front page, they achieve their goal, but the real challenge begins in the debate, where they face fierce opposition. Esmeralda Arboleda must endure personal attacks from the assembly members, and just as she is about to speak, she receives a heartbreaking call: her son has suffered a serious accident. She is torn between her duty as a mother and her commitment to the cause, with an unfavorable outcome.

An Iranian journalist couple wants to move to America to escape the difficulties of their country. The woman receives her visa but her husband doesn't. He stays in Iran and watches his wife find success on television and falls into a state of depression.

Jalil is 17-year-old boy living with his Iranian family in a suburb near Helsinki. Though he has lived in Finland all his life, it seems hard for him to find acceptance among the "native" Finns. At home he faces the opposite problem. His parents demand him to respect Iranian cultural traditions. Jalil is about one day in the life of a boy standing on the edge of two cultures. On this summer day big things are bound to culminate; religion, identity, love.

When a young social elite at the turn of the nineteenth century explores life as a modern woman, she risks losing the man she loves and a certain future.

A docu-drama shot in 1970, but not completed until 1973, the film sought to encapsulate in an experimental form issues that were under discussion within the Women’s Liberation Movement at this time and to thus contribute to action for change. In its numerous community screenings, active debate was encouraged as part of the viewing experience.

Inspirational true story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban.

Yahya is a middle-aged man who lives in a small town, a place where he can hide and forget his past, connected to the repression in Iran. One day, his son Nima leaves the house and disappears. Gradually, he distanced himself from Marta, his lover, and sought refuge alone. So, the police department calls and informs that a body that cannot be identified has been found, and Yahya is convinced that his son ran away because he found out his secret. To find him, Yahya will have to face his memories.

A young woman's wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters' mother refuses to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service?