Synopsis

Compass-Perspektive-Award, Peace Film Prize, Berlin International Film Festival
F:act Award
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Despite acting in self-defense, 19-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari is sentenced to execution in Iran for the killing of her attempted rapist. As her family pleads for leniency from the corrupt justice system, Reyhaneh remains committed to the truth, though it will mean her death. With bold clarity, Steffi Niederzoll’s documentary acutely portrays the bravery and will of Rayhaneh and her allies during their seven-year fight against a patriarchal society that cruelly silences and oppresses women. Weaving personal testimony from Reyhaneh’s family with secretly-recorded footage and readings of Reyhaneh’s heart-breaking letters from prison, this is activist cinema at its most urgent.