Tiburon International Film Festival

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Year:  2005
Running Time:  58 minutes
Country:  Denmark/Sweden/Iran
Language:  Farsi (UK subtitles)
Genre:  Documentary
Showtime:   Saturday, March 11, 2006 @ 03:25 PM
Director:  Nahid Persson

Description:  This film unveils the lives of two women, Minna and Fariba, in a city in Iran. The women are neighbours, good friends and support each other. Both of them have to live with the widespread mistreatment of women and the double standards that permeate Iranian society today. They both make a living from finding male customers on the streets. They have a choice between leaving their small children at home alone or taking them along when they have sex with various men.
The film portrays the women sympathetically and explores their everyday life and the way prostitution functions in a country where it is banned and where adultery is persecuted, sometimes resulting in capital punishment.

Many of the women's punters find a way to buy sex and still comply in Muslim law: they marry with the women in what is called 'Sighe', a temporary marriage legal in Shia Islam. 'Sighe' can last from two hours up to 99 years. In the film both Minna and Fariba undergo 'Sighe' with customers and Fariba gets married Sighe-style with a neighbour Habib for 6 months. Habib gives his perspective to the temporary marriage: to him sighe is a way of helping miserable woman. He claims that it is an act of mercy done in the name of Allah. The film follows the women for more than a year. It tells of their middle class background and how mendacious men and drugs lead them into prostitution. We see how Fariba is able to quit drugs and prostitution, only to find herself married temporarily with a man who will not let her leave the house.

Screening With:

Murderer and Murdered

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