Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights Division at Human Rights Watch is tonight’s special guest at the screening of Be Like Others, an intimate documentary that reveals the restrictions and painful choices forced upon individuals confined to the fringes of Iranian society.
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Anoosh’s pending sex-change operations causes conflicts within the family.
Be Like Othersscreens Friday, February 26th, 9 PM at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, part of the 7th annual Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Buy your tickets here.
A religious cleric explains the theology behind Ayatollah Khomeini’s approval of sex-change operations in Iran.
Be Like Othersscreens Friday, February 26th, 9 PM at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, part of the 7th annual Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Buy your tickets here.
Writer/director Tanaz Eshaghian talks about her illuminating documentary, Be Like Others. In this interview, shot during the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Eshaghian candidly discusses her experiences filming in Iran, her tremendous respect for the Persian sense of community, and what she hopes average viewers will take away from seeing the film.
Be Like Othersscreens Friday, February 26th, 9 PM at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, part of the 7th annual Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Buy your tickets here.
Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and accorded three Teddy Awards at Berlin, the documentary Be Like Others reveals the restrictions and painful choices forced upon individuals confined to the fringes of Iranian society.
Gay Iranians live under religious edicts that give them false options: either choose to live as a homosexual and risk being caught in an offense punishable by death, or be diagnosed as a transsexual, allowing you a government-sanctioned sex change.
Director Tanaz Eshaghian follows the intimate journeys of several young men (and one woman) at a sex-reassignment clinic in Tehran that provides them with the hope that an operation will lead to a more public life without persecution. These patients’ lives are fraught with physical and emotional turmoil. Many are shunned by their families; others have life-long physical pain from post-operation complications.
Educating and counseling them (and the viewer) through the process is Vida, a post-op woman who says the one thing that has allowed her to survive the process was the support of her family. Not only do we witness the pain of these patients, but we see the strain on family members, whose love for their children is challenged by societal pressures and fear for their futures.
Program Notes by Alex Rogalski
