We are Half of Iran's population

Ma Nimi az Jamiat Iranim

Rakhshan Banietemad gives voice to a multitude of Iranian women as they continue to fight for their rights and freedoms in the run up to the 2009 Presidential election.

Following the election that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned topower, which led to the emergence of the pro-democracy Green Movement, Banietemad focuses her gaze on the continued repression of women across the country. From its draconian marriage laws, male-on-female violence and rules that restrict movement and behaviour, Iran’s government has created a two-tier society that unfairly divides its male and female population. Very much a follow-up to her 2002 film Our Times, We Are Half of Iran’s Population features interviews with members of the Women Rights Activists of Iran, whose wide-ranging opinions were shown to three of the four candidates standing in the election for comment. Ahmadinejad declined to be involved.