Documentary
by Sudabeh Mortezai
A/G 2009, 85 min.
Assistant to Director: Sepideh Abtahi
Cinematography: Arastoo Givi, Majid Gorjian
Sound: Farrokh Fadai
Editing: Oliver Neumann
Producers: Oliver Neumann, Wolfgang Bergmann
Production Management Austria: Sabine Moser
Production Management Iran: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Production: FreibeuterFilm in Co-production with Licht Film and WDR/arte
With kind support by: Innovative Film Austria, Vienna Film Fund
German Distributor: W-Film
Espiello 2011 – Bester Ethnographic Documentary
Österreichischer Filmpreis 2011 – Nomination Beste Austrian Documentary
Ecuador Film Festival EDOC 2011
Bordocs Tijuana 2011
DOCSDF Mexico 2010 – Best Internationaler Documentary
Diagonale 2010 – Special Mention
Vision du Reel Nyon 2010
Dokfest München 2010
Lagow Film Summer 2010
This Human World Film Festival 2010
Split Film Festival 2010
Verzio Human Rights & Documentary Film Festival Budapest 2010
Frauenfilmtage Wien 2010
MedFilmFest Rom 2010
Icaro Film Festival Guatemala 2010
Ljubliana Doc Film Festival 2010
NAR Film Festival 2014
SYNOPSIS
A lonesome middle-aged bachelor, a divorced single mother, and a jovial young mullah are the protagonists of this intimate account of gender relations in Iran. Their stories revolve around the institution of temporary marriage, also called lust-marriage, a Shia practice that allows a man and a woman to legally marry for a fixed period of time ranging from one hour to 99 years. Religiously sanctified prostitution or a loophole for couples to have a relationship within the rigid Islamic laws? Religious dogma meets macho sentimentality meets female realities. A relentlessly honest, eye-opening, and sometimes funny account of Islamic sexual and gender politics.
FILMSTILLS
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Born 1968 in Ludwigsburg, Germany, Sudabeh grew up in Tehran and Vienna. She received her MA in theater and film studies from the University of Vienna in 1994.
She worked as a programmer for film festivals and organized a number of film events as the manager and curator of Filmcasino, an independent arthouse theater in Vienna.
After completing UCLA’s certificate program in Film, TV, and Digital Entertainment Media in 2003, Sudabeh worked as an assistant director and production manager and directed and produced several short films before making her feature-length documentary “Children of the Prophet”.
2007 co-founder of FreibeuterFilm.
2009 – In the Bazar of the Sexes – Documentary
2006 – Children of the Prophet – Documentary