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Sieben Winter in Teheran

Seven Winters in Tehran
Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2023
© Made in Germany
In the summer of 2007, an older man approaches Reyhaneh Jabbari and asks the architecture student who has a side job as an interior decorator for her help in the design of offices. During the site inspection, he tries to rape her. Reyhaneh stabs him in self-defence. She is arrested for murder and sentenced to death. Reyhaneh was to spend the next seven years in prison while her family hired lawyers and made the public aware of the case. However, in spite of the efforts of national and international politicians and human rights organisations, the Iranian judiciary continued to cite the “right of blood-revenge”. This meant that, as long as Reyhaneh did not withdraw her accusations against the man, his family could demand her death. Reyhaneh stuck to her testimony and was hanged at the age of 26.
In her moving and shockingly topical documentary debut, director Steffi Niederzoll uses among other things original audio and visual material that was smuggled out of Iran. This film, in which Holy Spider actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi lends Reyhaneh her voice, makes visible the injustice in Iranian society and portrays an involuntary heroine who gave her life in the fight for women’s rights.
by Steffi Niederzoll
with Reyhaneh Jabbari, Shole Pakravan, Fereydoon Jabbari, Shahrzad Jabbari, Sharare Jabbari, Parvaneh Hajilou, Mohammad Mostafaei, Samira Mokarrami, Zar Amir Ebrahimi Germany / France 2023 Farsi 97’ Documentary Form

With

  • Reyhaneh Jabbari
  • Shole Pakravan
  • Fereydoon Jabbari
  • Shahrzad Jabbari
  • Sharare Jabbari
  • Parvaneh Hajilou
  • Mohammad Mostafaei
  • Samira Mokarrami
  • Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Voice of Reyhaneh)

Crew

Director Steffi Niederzoll
Screenplay Steffi Niederzoll
Cinematography Julia Daschner
Editing Nicole Kortlüke
Music Flemming Nordkrog
Sound Design Andreas Hildebrandt
Sound César Fernández Borrás
Production Design Miren Oller
Make-Up M. Gol
Assistant Director Stefan Kriekhaus
Production Manager Svenja Heinrichs
Producers Knut Losen, Melanie Andernach
Co-Producers Laurent Lavolé, Gilles Sacuto, Miléna Poylo
Executive Producers Stina Ataeian, Céline Loiseau, Eva Lass
Co-Production TS Productions Paris
Gloria Films Paris
WDR Köln

World sales

Cercamon

http://www.cercamon.biz http://www.cercamon.biz

Produced by

Made in Germany Filmproduktion

https://madeingermany-film.de https://madeingermany-film.de

Photos

In Focus

Steffi Niederzoll

© Aljaz Fuiz Kulturakademie Tarabya

Born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1981, she studied audiovisual media at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in Cuba. Her short films have screened successfully at international festivals; her medium-length film Lea was selected for the 2008 Perspektive Deutsches Kino. She is an alumna of several masterclasses and won a scholarship to the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Türkiye. Alongside her film work, she is also involved in interdisciplinary artistic work. Sieben Winter in Teheran is her debut feature-length documentary.

Filmography

2004 Petuhtanten; short film 2005 Como si el Paisje Pasara; short film 2006 A Summer Long; short film 2008 Lea; medium-length film 2023 Sieben Winter in Teheran (Seven Winters in Tehran); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023