WATCH TRAILER

A WAR ON WOMEN

Dir. Raha Shirazi

Italy | 2026 | 100 minutes | English Farsi | Order No. W261331

Tracing four generations of resistance, A War on Women uncovers the hidden history of Iranian women's struggle against the Islamic Republic, revealing how decades of courage and defiance built an enduring movement for freedom.

SYNOPSIS

Instead of framing the 2022 feminist-led "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising in Iran as a sudden revolt, A WAR ON WOMEN reveals it as the eruption of a feminist resistance more than forty years in the making. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police captured the world's attention, but the film reveals that the history of this movement stretches back to the first protests against compulsory veiling following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Through intimate interviews, rare archival materials, and previously unseen footage shot inside Iran, the film weaves together the personal and political journeys of seven extraordinary women. Activists, mothers, actresses, former political prisoners, and exiles form an unbroken chain of resistance that has withstood imprisonment, torture, and exile across four generations.

Centering the voices of those who chose not to remain silent in the face of systemic oppression, A WAR ON WOMEN reveals how women have remained the primary target of the Islamic Republic's efforts to control public life, political participation, and bodily autonomy. Yet each generation has transformed repression into renewed resistance, passing strength, knowledge, and defiance from one to the next. Historical, personal, and urgently contemporary, the film offers an intimate and nuanced portrait of a country often misunderstood while illuminating the extraordinary courage behind one of the world's longest-running feminist movements.

Request a screener

PRESS

Blending remarkable archival footage and interviews with seven prominent activists, the film reinterprets and complicates the Western narrative of postrevolutionary Iran in the 20th century.

The film features the intertwined stories of seven women, shedding light on the personal and collective battles that have defined Iran’s feminist struggle

A forceful rallying cry for women’s rights.

“A WAR ON WOMEN is a documentary that reinterprets the 2022 Iranian uprising, not as a spontaneous uprising, but rather as the powerful eruption of a feminist resistance that has matured over the course of forty years.”

“At a time when Iran is often reduced to geopolitical headlines, A WAR ON WOMEN insists on a human dimension, particularly a female one.”

“It’s a rage-inducing but excellent film that should be required viewing for people in positions of power.”

“An engaging film that reminds us what is at stake, and the weight of the history behind it, when anti-regime protestors call to ‘Free Iran.’”

“Framed around the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s death in morality police custody, the film looks beyond the immediate shock of 2022 to trace a struggle shaped by imprisonment, exile, archival memory, and the refusal of women to disappear from public life.”

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Fearless Wahine – Doc Edge Awards 2026
  • Hot Docs 2026
  • Doc Edge 2026
  • Encounters South African International Documentary Festival 2026
  • Bari International Film & TV Festival (BIFEST)
  • Doxumentale – International Documentary and Media Festival Berlin

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Raha Shirazi

Raha Shirazi is an Iranian Canadian director and artist born in Tehran. Her childhood in Iran, combined with her education in Canada, has been a major source of inspiration for her short films, which have been presented at international festivals worldwide. Notably, FOUR WALLS premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was later selected at over twenty international festivals. Her work has been described as “poetic, sophisticated, and profound.” In 2008, Raha was one of six Canadian directors selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus, where she was invited to present her work. In 2009, for BravoFACT, she created Black Ice, a film about dance featuring the Toronto step-dance company of the same name, the short screened at numerous festivals across North America. That same year, she directed the documentary THE WAY MUST BE TRIED for OMNI Television, celebrating the 50th anniversary of York University. Beyond individual film projects, Raha has explored transmedia work combining cinema, theater, and architecture through collaborations with artists from various disciplines. In December 2010, she participated in a workshop with director Michelangelo Frammartino, which led to the short film Acqua, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (2011). In 2014, she directed the short film Fuoco, an Italy/Canada co-production. She is currently working on her first feature fiction film, Terra, a co-production between Italy, France, and Canada, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, MIC DGCA, Rai Cinema, Telefilm Canada, Wild FX, Rolling Pictures, Regione Toscana, and Lazio Cinema International. (07/28)

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

My Stolen Planet

Farah, an Iranian woman, was born in 1979 at the end of the Islamic Revolution, shortly after the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty. Drawing on personal archives and 8mm archival recordings of strangers' lives, she contrasts moments of private joy with public defiance to show lives of women under the regimented oppression in Tehran.
HOSTED STREAMING: Institutional streaming is provided by 1stLook, powered by Docuseek.
Or PURCHASE a DVD or DIGITAL SITE LICENSE for your own collection:
Learn more

Bye Bye Tiberias

Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Emmy-nominated Hiam Abbass (SUCCESSION, RAMY, BLADE RUNNER) returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.
HOSTED STREAMING: Institutional streaming is provided by 1stLook, powered by Docuseek.
Or PURCHASE a DVD or DIGITAL SITE LICENSE for your own collection:
Learn more

A Thousand Girls Like Me

The story of a young Afghan woman’s brave fight for justice after experiencing years of abuse at the hands of her father.
Learn more

Saving Face

Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary (Short Subject), SAVING FACE is a harshly realistic view of violence against women in South Asia. Every year in Pakistan, many women are known to be victimized by brutal acid attacks, with numerous cases going unreported. Plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad left his prominent London practice to return to his home country and help the victims of such attacks. Two of these women, Zakia and Rukhsana, are victims of brutal acid attacks by their husbands and in Rukhsana’s case, her in-laws as well. Both attempt to bring their assailants to justice and move on with their lives with the help of NGOs, sympathetic policymakers, politicians, support groups with other acid attack victims and Dr. Jawad. SAVING FACE also depicts a Pakistan that is changing - one where ordinary people can stand up and make a difference and where marginalized communities can seek justice.
Learn more

Rights & Wrongs

By returning to the roots of Islam and understanding how societies have found justification for their treatment of women within Islamic sources, this thoughtful and far reaching film is an essential resource that debunks myths about women and Islam. Renowned Muslim feminist scholars and journalists, including Asra Q. Nomani, Mona Eltahawy, Azadeh Moaveni, Dr. Amina Wadud, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl and Asma Gull Hasan, detail how from early on very different understandings of the Qur’an lead to vastly different translations, with enormous repercussions for women living in different Islamic societies around the world. The film alternates between the history of Mohammad and issues facing Muslim women today—from the wearing of the veil, to praying in the mosque, and attitudes towards domestic violence and honor killings. It also looks at how feminism works within Islam in the modern era. RIGHTS & WRONGS is indispensable for courses on Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, comparative religion, women’s studies and more.
Learn more

Divorce Iranian Style

Hilarious, tragic, stirring, this fly-on-the-wall look at several weeks in an Iranian divorce court provides a unique window into the intimate circumstances of Iranian women’s lives. Following Jamileh, whose husband beats her; Ziba, a 16-year-old trying to divorce her 38-year-old husband; and Maryam, who is desperately fighting to gain custody of her daughters, this deadpan chronicle showcases the strength, ingenuity, and guile with which they confront biased laws, a Kafaka-esque administrative system, and their husbands’ and families’ rage to gain divorces. With the barest of commentary, acclaimed director Kim Longinotto turns her cameras on the court and lets it tell its own story. Dispelling images of Iran as a country of war, hostages, and “fatwas”, and Iranian women as passive victims of a terrible system, this film is a subtle, fascinating look at women’s lives in a country which is little known to most Americans. Directed by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, author of MARRIAGE ON TRIAL: A STUDY OF ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW.
Learn more

They Call Me Muslim

In popular Western imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil – or hijab – is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women’s freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? In this provocative documentary, filmmaker Diana Ferrero portrays the struggle of two women – one in France and one in Iran – to express themselves freely. In 2004, the French government instituted an "anti-veil law," forbidding Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to school. Samah, a teenager in Paris who, at 14 decided to wear the veil, explains how the law attacks her sense of identity – and does not make her feel liberated. “Who says that freedom is not wearing anything on your head?” she asks. Half a world away in Tehran, “K,” forced to wear the hijab by the Islamic regime, defiantly wears it her own way – and her translucent scarf loosely draped over her hair puts her at risk of arrest. When Ferrero films her at home, K, comfortable in a tank top and shorts, says, “They call me Muslim... But do you see me as a Muslim? What do you have in your mind for a Muslim person?” Beautifully shot and finely crafted, THEY CALL ME MUSLIM highlights how women still must struggle for the right to control their own bodies – not only under theocratic regimes, but also in secular, democratic countries where increasing discrimination against Muslims and sexism intersect.
Learn more

A Woman's Word

Beautiful and intimate, A WOMAN'S WORD depicts the life and writings of three exceptional authors of the Arab word – Nawal Al Saadawi from Egypt, Hanan Al Shaykh from Lebanon, and Janata Bennuna from Morocco. For all three women, becoming a writer was never a choice but a necessity – a vocation fought for and hard won. In her own way, each writer struggles as an Arab woman in a society that often wants to shut down her powerful voice. Conveying the intense drive of these women to write as a way to make sense of the world, to battle their sense of alienation or to express their political dissent, this documentary shatters the clichéd image of the oppressed and helpless Arab woman too often portrayed in the media. A WOMAN'S WORD deftly weaves together interviews, family photos, voiceovers of each author reading from her work, and lingering, sensual footage of the cities each woman lives in. Each author discusses her childhood, her development as a writer, and the political and cultural forces that have shaped her life and work. By allowing the viewer to enter, for a moment, into the vibrant lives of these authors, this film offers an accessible introduction or insightful companion piece to the works of these authors.
Learn more

Runaway

“RUNAWAY is a powerful and heart-breaking documentary about a group of young runaway girls who are taken to a women's shelter in Tehran, Iran. The film focuses on the sufferings of young girls who struggle to free themselves from the tyrannical and abusive power of their families, mainly their fathers, brothers, and stepfathers. The sisterly feelings of the girls towards each other, their spiritual strength, their courage to rebel, and their wit are shown with a great degree of compassion and empathy in the film. The filmmakers have beautifully criticized the patriarchal system of family and the destructive power of male family members over the lives of their daughters and sisters. One can imagine that the issue of confinement and abuse goes beyond the issue of class when it comes to the problem of domestic violence and the desire to control women through anger, aggression and madness.” - Mehrnaz Saeed, Colombia College Chicago
Learn more

A Place Called Home

Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri grew up in pre-Revolution Tehran daydreaming about an ideal life in the West. Nineteen years later, after living and working in the U.S., Persheng explores her controversial decision to move back to Iran, to return to the place she never stopped calling home. In this fascinating and very personal documentary, Persheng's interviews with her family--with her mother and sister in the U.S. and with her father, who chose to remain in Iran--reveal some of the complex layers of expatriate, national and cultural identities. The film features a rare glimpse at women's lives in contemporary Tehran.
Learn more

I Am the Revolution

A Portrait of Three Women in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq Leading the Fight for Gender Equality
Learn more

Girls' War

As the forces of ISIS and Assad tear through villages and society in Syria and Northern Iraq, a group of brave and idealistic women are taking up arms against them—and winning inspiring victories. Members of “The Free Women’s Party” come from Paris, Turkish Kurdistan, and other parts of the world. Their dream: To create a Democratic Syria, and a society based on gender equality. Guns in hand, these women are carrying on a movement with roots that run 40 years deep in the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey. GIRL’S WAR honors the legacy of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK who was assassinated in Paris in 2013, and reflects on the sacrifices made by all of the women in the movement, who have endured jail, rape, war, and persecution in their quest to liberate their lives and sisters from male dominance. With scenes of solidarity, strength, and love amongst these brave women soldiers, GIRL'S WAR is a surprising story of Middle Eastern feminism on the front lines.
Learn more

Unveiled Views

In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries. Bosnian Alma Suljevic risks her life daily clearing the landmines near Sarajevo that are war’s deadly legacy, then sells minefield earth in European art galleries so that she can continue her work. Eren Keskin, a longtime human rights activist and lawyer with music conservatory training, fights to change Turkey’s legal practices that perpetuate violence against women. Veteran filmmaker Rakshan Bani-Ehmad, true to her credo that art must “look, observe, and discover”, frequently pushes Iran’s censorship rules to the limit. Surrounded by conflict since childhood, young Afghani writer Moshagan Saadat creates brave, profoundly moving and memorable poems. And renowned Pakistani dancer Nahid Siddiqui, once forced to live outside her homeland when her work was banned, continues to perfect, renew, and teach her art form. Captured by Spanish filmmaker Alba Sotorra, who hitchhiked from Barcelona to Pakistan to shoot UNVEILED VIEWS, these self-portraits of hope, heroism, and pride challenge conventional Western stereotypes about women in the Islamic world.
Learn more

My Home - Your War

MY HOME – YOUR WAR offers an extraordinary look at the effect of the Iraq war through the eyes of an ordinary Iraqi woman. Shot in Baghdad over three years that span the time before, during and after the invasion of Iraq, this profoundly moving film brings a perspective that – until now – has rarely been available to U.S. audiences. This film combines insightful interviews with Layla Hassan and her family, vibrant scenes of Baghdad and intimate footage shot by Layla herself to paint a compelling picture of how the war has affected average Iraqis. As Islamic fundamentalism takes hold in the chaos of Baghdad, her shy teenage son turns to militancy, her once-progressive sister dons the veil, and whatever freedom Layla once had under Saddam Hussein’s secular rule is steadily being eroded. While facts about the Iraq war garner much U.S. media attention, My Home – Your War is a deeply compelling account of something seldom discussed: how the Iraq war has created a situation where the rise of fundamentalism is putting women’s rights increasingly at risk.
Learn more

Women Like Us: Women in Iran

Filmmaker Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri returns to Iran after 20 years as an expatriate to present this intimate and revealing portrait of five ordinary Iranian women: a nurse, a journalist, a rice farmer, a religious college graduate and a piano teacher. Against a backdrop of Islam, revolution and war, they share their views on the veil, the relationship of Iranian women to the West and the long-ranging impacts of the 1979 Revolution on the status of women in their country. What emerges is an image of Iran that resists easy classification, a nation in flux at a unique historical moment, still reeling from the residual effects of the Iran-Iraq war but poised for a new future. An important and timely look at contemporary Iran, WOMEN LIKE US offers surprising insights into the changing role of women in the Middle East from a perspective that rarely makes it to international headlines.
Learn more
Shopping Cart