Iranian woman

Based on the true story of a young woman in a village in southwestern Iran, peasants were driven off their land in the service of progress. In this circumscribed world, Rooy-Bekheir is shown trapped within a courtyard in which chickens peck and circle, no escape possible. A walled gate increases the feeling of entrapment, for Rooy-Bekheir’s future is bleak in a culture of disenfranchised women. During the Shah’s reign, because of its critique of the pervasive, misogynistic paternalism that restricts women’s choices, director Marva Nabili’s work was considered illegal. As a result, after surreptitiously shooting on 16-millimeter film, Nabili had to smuggle the negative out of the country for developing and editing.