All My Sisters (Sé Khâhar)

Filmmaker Massoud Bakhshi follows his three nieces from their early childhood in 2007 to the present, 18 years later. They grow up as carefree young girls: swinging on the playground bars, playing with Barbies and getting up to mischief. But the many restrictions imposed by society gradually creep into their lives via their traditional family. At the first signs of puberty, the headscarf is brought out of the closet and suddenly all kinds of fun things turn out to be sinful. At the same time, the sisters – Mahya, Zahra and Maleka – develop into critical, socially engaged young women. Bakhshi uses optical tricks to circumvent restrictions regarding the visibility of women’s hair or body contours while he records how the sisters learn to stand up and fight for their rights and freedom.