Kim Longinotto is a filmmaker who enjoys visiting organizations and communities as extraordinary as a bar where female-to-male transvestites serve customers (Shinjuku Boys), a girls’ school for training musical talents (Dream Girls), a family court that specializes in divorce cases only (Divorce Iranian Style), and a boarding home for female wrestlers (Gaea Girls). In Longinotto’s film, these social organizations are not just another group of oddities, but special spaces where the courage and strength of women challenging their demanding roles and social oppression are truly exemplified.
 Produced in collaboration with Iranian Anthropologist, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Runaway is set in a shelter for the teenage women of Teheran. It is here that young female victims of physical and sexual abuse find shelter and solace. Among them are little Maryam, and Satareh, forced into prostitution by her father. Atena’s life too has been scarred by sexual abuse by her step-father and the failure of the marriage she was pushed into at the age of twelve. Through the sincere tales of these young girls, the film examines the changes taking place within Iran, where tradition and modernity collide. Now it is no longer possible to use physical and sexual abuse and blackmail to bind women to the cruel shackles of tradition and patriarchy. The counselors of the women’s shelter assist these abused girls to create a life for themselves. To achieve this, these counselors often urge the girls to delve into the core of their complex domestic problems. A wonderful piece on the courage, self-respect and mutual love of women who live through the complex dynamics of both society and family. (Nam In-young)