Intrigue

Against the backdrop of the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement in Iran, filmmaker Elahe Esmaili is helping her parents to pack up the family home. As the boxes stack up, discussions flare between the generations: Elahe does not wear the hijab, embodying the courage of her generation's struggles. But can changing a society be as simple as moving house?—Visions du Réel

Elahe Esmaili, a filmmaker, is invited to join her parents outside the Iranian capital to help them move house and spend the Eid holidays as a family. One night train later, she arrives without a hijab to meet her loved ones. Under the stern gaze of the matriarch, sisters and nieces work together to empty the house, the fortress of their memories: wedding gifts, prayer mats and a few portraits of the Ayatollah. When Uncle Hossein invites them to an official family reunion, laughter and light-heartedness give way to solemnity - and head coverings must be in place. For the parents, it's a question of respect, or rather shame. But Elahe persists: she just wants to "be herself", and covering her head is no longer an option since the recent "Woman, Life, Freedom" revolution. Through its depiction of a family weekend, the coming together of three generations, confidences over tea, and a house being emptied, this film shifts the lines, with both small movements and big bursts of courage, and is dedicated to Jina Mahsa Amini.—Anne Delseth, Visions du Réel