Iran and the challenege of reform (DVD)

Author - Director: Jamshid Golmakani

This film attempts to analyze the complex climate of the current Iranian Political system and questions the compatibility of an Islamic State with freedom and democracy. In 1997, Mohammad Khatami, runs as a moderate candidate for reform and gets elected the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  His election marks almost two decades of struggle by the Iranian people to loosen the iron grip that the regime had on every aspect of their lives.

President Khatami promises to bring about some measures of freedom, therefore fueling the hopes of many, inside and outside of the country. The film reviews his eight years of Lame Duck presidency. His struggle with the growing public pressure and anger, for him to fulfill his campaign promises, on one side and the all powerful Supreme spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on another.

Khatami’s inability to reckon with the powerful political forces opposing him in Tehran and in essence, rendering him ineffective. Khatami visits to France and Germany, during which, many of current regime’s opponents protested against the Western European governments’ support for him. The film presents rare footage of Shirin Ebadi, a female Iranian Lawyer who receives the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2003. The Iranian freedom seekers view this as a positive step by an International body in recognition of their struggle.

 This documentary further reveals the lack of a democratic political process within the country and the inability of people to bring about changes through peaceful means and struggle, a direct result of decades of oppressive and authoritarian rein.