Event

Nazra: Facing Mirrors

Eyes Wide Open Cinema presents the final screening in a season of films exploring queer representation in Arab cinema.

Wednesday 5 December. Fabrica Gallery, Brighton.

Doors 7.00pm. Start 7.30pm.

FACING MIRRORS

Director: Negar Azarbayjani | Iran | 2011 | 98 minutes
In Farsi (Persian) with English subtitles.

Set in contemporary Iran, Facing Mirrors tells the story of an unlikely and daring friendship that develops between a cisgender female cab driver and her passenger, a transgender man desperately awaiting a passport to leave the country to escape a forced marriage. While the cab drivers initial instinct is to help, she is caught off guard upon discovering that her passenger is trans. What emerges is a connection between the two that challenges both social norms and religious beliefs, reflecting the paradoxes of modern-day Iran in which gender reassignment surgery is legal and prevalent, but social acceptance is not widespread.

+ LEGACY OF THE IMAM (SHORT)

Director: Kouross Esmaeli | Iran and USA | 2006 | 14 minutes

Maryam Khatoonpour Molkara made strides for the Iranian trans community in 2004 when she successfully obtained a fatwa from Ayatollah Khomeini to allow legal gender reassignment surgery in the country. Iranian-American filmmaker Kouross Esmaeli is invited to Molkaras Iran Transsexual Support Society to hear the voices of Iranian trans people.

+ Skype Q&A with Saman Arastoo

We have a limited amount of tickets available for free for those who cannot afford the regular ticket price. Please email tickets@eyeswideopencinema.co.uk to reserve these.

This event has been made possible by BFI's Film Audience Network, with the support of The National Lottery.