The movie

Seven Winters in Tehran

The 013 CIFF’s first documentary ever tells the story of Rayhaneh Jabbari, a woman executed for killing the man who tried to rape her. ‘A deep, dignified, and nuanced human story of a conflicted, violent society.’—Cineuropa

Length: 97 min
Country: Duitsland, Iran
Language spoken: German, Farsi
Language subtitles: English
Cast:
Director: Steffi Niederzoll
Release date: 16/10/2023

Description

These screenings are with English subtitles

The first documentary ever presented at the 013 Cinecitta International Film Festival won the Compass-Perspektive-Award for the Best Film in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section and the Peace Film Prize at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. In 2007, 19-year-old Rayhaneh Jabbari stabbed a man who was attempting to rape her. He died; she was arrested. Using materials smuggled out of Iran, the video calls and letters of Rayhaneh herself, and interviews, director Steffi Niederzoll paints a deeply affecting portrait of the spirited Jabbari and the corruption in Iranian society as a whole over the seven years leading up to Jabbari’s 2014 execution.

‘Niederzoll gives us… a deep, dignified, and nuanced human story of a conflicted, violent society… Even though its anti-regime voice is loud and clear, the film also sends a message of empathy and forgiveness, just as Reyhaneh asked her family to forgive her murderers…’—Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa

These screenings are with English subtitles