3rd(2001)
The Day I Became a Woman
Marziyeh MESHKINI
- Iran, Italy
- 2000
- 80min
- 35mm
- color
SYNOPSIS
Three stories of different generations unfold one by one within the same temporal and spatial world. On her 9th birthday, Hava is told not to hang out with boys, as she just ‘became a woman.’ Ahoo is a young woman who enlists in a bicycle race by the seashore, defying her husband’s objections. As time passes, more and more male villagers try to dissuade her from participating in the race. Hoora is an old woman who buys everything she wanted in her life and spreads them out on the beach.
The Day I Became A Woman compares and contrasts the freedom sought by these women and society’s brutal restraints within striking scenery, featuring arid land and the deep blue ocean-crashing shoreline. The images simultaneously present both minimalist and surrealist elements, calling into question the meaning of ‘becoming a woman’ in the harsh realities of Iran. (Nam In-Young)
The Day I Became A Woman compares and contrasts the freedom sought by these women and society’s brutal restraints within striking scenery, featuring arid land and the deep blue ocean-crashing shoreline. The images simultaneously present both minimalist and surrealist elements, calling into question the meaning of ‘becoming a woman’ in the harsh realities of Iran. (Nam In-Young)
PROGRAM NOTE
Three stories of different generations unfold one by one within the same temporal and spatial world. On her 9th birthday, Hava is told not to hang out with boys, as she just ‘became a woman.’ Ahoo is a young woman who enlists in a bicycle race by the seashore, defying her husband’s objections. As time passes, more and more male villagers try to dissuade her from participating in the race. Hoora is an old woman who buys everything she wanted in her life and spreads them out on the beach.
The Day I Became A Woman compares and contrasts the freedom sought by these women and society’s brutal restraints within striking scenery, featuring arid land and the deep blue ocean-crashing shoreline. The images simultaneously present both minimalist and surrealist elements, calling into question the meaning of ‘becoming a woman’ in the harsh realities of Iran. (Nam In-Young)
The Day I Became A Woman compares and contrasts the freedom sought by these women and society’s brutal restraints within striking scenery, featuring arid land and the deep blue ocean-crashing shoreline. The images simultaneously present both minimalist and surrealist elements, calling into question the meaning of ‘becoming a woman’ in the harsh realities of Iran. (Nam In-Young)
Director
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Marziyeh MESHKINIMarziyeh MESHKINI
Marziyeh Meshkini was born in 1969 in Tehran. She has learned cinema in Makhmalbaf Film School for 8 years. She worked as assistant director & stiil photographer of Mohsen & Samira Makhmalbaf’s films. Her first film The Day I Became a Woman attended the Critics Week in Venice International Film Festival in 2000 and won 3 awards from that festival. Marziyeh Meshkini’s second film Stray Dogs (2003) competed in the Best Film at Venice Film Festival in 2003 and won two international prizes.
Credit
- ProducerRohollah Baradari, Abbas Sagharisaz
- Cast Fatemeh Cheragh Akhar, Shabnam Toloui, Azizeh Sedi
- Screenwriter Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Cinematography Ebrahim Ghafouri, Mohammad Ahmadi
- Art director Akbar Meshkini
- Editor Maysam Makhmalbaf, Shahrzad Poya
- Music Mohammad Reza Darvishi
- Sound Behrouz Shahamat
