Our Times (Ruz-egar-e ma)

This film, in docu-fiction form, about the presidential elections of 2001, initially follows a collective of young actors and artists, including the director’s own daughter, who have formed a committee to support Khatami’s campaign. In parallel, the filmmaker meets forty-eight women who had presented themselves as candidates at the election, but to whom the government refuses to give official recognition. She gradually comes to concentrate on one of these women, Arezoo Bayat, a young widow of twenty-five, who fights to improve everyday life, not only for her own family, but also for that of all Iranians. The two strands of this documentary bring out the paradoxical emotions that hold sway in Iran. The euphoria of the younger generation stands out in brutal contrast to the despair that seems to have overwhelmed their mainly working class elders. (www.pardo.ch)