a nuanced immersion alongside Sarah

FRANCE 5 – SUNDAY APRIL 21 AT 9:05 P.M. – DOCUMENTARY

While Iran and Israel seem to be embarking on an open conflict, the Tehran regime is also stiffening internally, where since mid-April it has been waging a very fierce wave of repression against unveiled or poorly veiled women in the streets. . The essential documentary by Solène Chalvon-Fioriti, We, the youth of Iranopens an unprecedented window into what is happening, above and below the surface, in Iran since the protests that followed the death in police custody of young Mahsa (Jina) Amini over a veil “ill-adjusted”in September 2022.

As the journalist was not allowed to travel to the country, she asked a young student, Sarah (a pseudonym), to film her daily life and send her voice notes, like a logbook. The face of the Iranian woman and those of other witnesses in the documentary were not masked, but modified using artificial intelligence, to ensure their safety, which gives the film a real softness.

During the day, Sarah takes us into her university establishment, where she and her comrades, carried by the uprising “Woman, life, freedom”, push back the red lines. They break down the partitions separating the men’s canteen from the women’s, and write slogans on the walls. Women continue not to cover their hair despite intimidation from their teachers.

At night, Sarah demonstrates. It shows us the faces of teenagers killed in the demonstrations, hung on the walls of the city. With strength and gentleness, the young woman makes us experience her hope, her courage, reinforced by the fact of being accompanied by other people; but also his great sadness in the face of the terror and brutality of the Iranian regime.

Solène Chalvon-Fioriti did not choose simplicity. She could have just told us about the Iranians who oppose their regime, but as she says, the Iranian youth, massive and educated, is plural and does not always resemble Sarah.

Connected to the Internet

In Iraqi Kurdistan, a neighbor of Iran, we meet Iranian women from the Kurdish ethnic minority discriminated against by Tehran, who are learning to use weapons. Other young people, from a “religious generation”, adhere to the ideology of the Islamic Republic but are also evolving. Like this divorced woman (while divorce is still a taboo in many families) who, despite her proximity to the official discourse, worries about the future of her son. She even recognizes that the regime can be overthrown!

In another family, the women are interviewed in their home next to portraits of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, and the current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. However, girls, like the vast majority of Iranians, are connected to the Internet and see how young people elsewhere live, far from the constraints imposed on them. They are therefore different from their mothers.

In Iran, it is impossible to understand the reality of society, but also the reasons for the regime’s sustainability, if we remain blind to the nuances. Solène Chalvon-Fioriti’s documentary is a successful example of how to tell these nuances.