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From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now:

Two Timely Check It Outs About Iran

Revcom.us editors’ note: We received the following from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC).

PBS Frontline Documentary Inside the Iranian Uprising

This one-hour film, available on YouTube, takes you through how the September 16, 2022 murder of 22-year-old Mahsa “Jina” Amini because her hijab (headscarf) didn’t completely cover her hair by Iran’s notorious “morality police” sparked the powerful nationwide “Women-Life-Freedom” uprising that became one of the most serious threats to the stability of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in its 44-year history.

You watch up-close-and-personal footage of the incredibly courageous and inspiring uprising, in which women and the struggle against women’s oppression—symbolized in Iran by the compulsory hijab—are front and center. Individual stories of inspiring resistance are spotlighted, letting you get inside the hopes and dreams of the fearless young protesters. You see the response by Iran’s Islamic regime: deadly beatings, sadistic shootings, mass arrests, and executions that are still going on. You hear the regime’s lying excuses for its vicious repression: that the uprising involving hundreds of thousands of Iranians is simply the work of “foreign services.”

Jina was Kurdish (a minority nationality murderously oppressed in Iran and neighboring countries) and the documentary shows the intense street battles that took place in Iran’s Kurdish region. (The documentary does not cover the struggles by other non-Persian nationalities, such as the Baluch, who’ve paid the highest price in protester lives lost, against the regime and their oppression.)

Within hours of its August 8 premiere, the documentary received almost 1,000 comments, mostly from people deeply moved who had little or no prior knowledge of the depth of repression and struggle in Iran. Sharing it broadly is one important way to prepare for the fast-approaching anniversary of the uprising.

Holy Spider

Poster for film "Holy Spider"

 

The movie Holy Spider is a powerful, unsparing, and impactful depiction of the oppression of women in Iran. This film (in Farsi with English subtitles) was released in a few U.S. theaters last fall and is now streaming on Netflix and other platforms.

Holy Spider is based on the true story of a series of murders of street prostitutes in Mashhad in eastern Iran, where a major Islamic shrine and religious complex are located. The screenwriter/director Ali Abbasi utilizes a fictional woman journalist, played by the award-winning Zar Amir Ebrahimi, to tell the story. What she uncovers is horrifying in ways one cannot prepare for. A gripping murder mystery unfolds which paints a living picture of the Islamic Republic's women-hating fundamentalist ideology, laws, and culture, as well as the horrors it enforces and unleashes.

Created before the nationwide storm of protest in Iran following the September 26, 2022 murder of Mahsa “Jina” Amini (see accompanying Inside the Iranian Uprising), the film paints a visceral picture of the deep hatred millions of Iranian women have for their oppression, and opens a window into why this uprising erupted with such fury and courage. 

“I know that fear, I know that humiliation,” Amir Ebrahimi told the New York Times after winning the best actress award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival (after which she and others involved in the film were threatened by the Islamic Republic). “I know how men in Iran use their power to keep you quiet.”

Holy Spider is available on Netflix, or to rent on Amazon Prime and Vudu.

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