Reyhaneh Jabbari, executed for murdering the man who tried to rape her. Her subsequent protest makes her a symbol of resistance and women’s rights even beyond the borders of Iran. “Seven Winters in Tehran” is first long documentary film by Steffi Niederzoll. It is a heartbreaking narration of pain and hope of Reyhaneh Jabbari’s mother.
Reyhaneh Jabbari attends a business meeting with a potential client in Tehran in 2007. She was 19. When he attempts to rape her, she defends herself by stabbing him and fleeing the scene. She has charged with murder the next day. Even though much evidence leads to self-defense, she is sentenced to death at her trial. The assailant had the proper connections. And the patriarchy still has sway over him, even after his death.
‘Seven Winters in Tehran’ tells the story of a woman’s trial and fate over several years. Using personal footage, testimony, and letters from prison. She has become a symbol of the resistance and women’s struggle in Iran. Which is now raging again – and her mother has joined the fight. Zar Amir Ebrahimi (‘Holy Spider,’ Cannes-winning actress) gives her voice to Reyhaneh Jabbari’s heartbreaking letters to her mother.
“Reyhaneh Jabbari International symbol of injustice in Iran“
Reyhaneh Jabbari was 26 when she was hanged for murder in 2014. Become an international symbol of injustice in Iran.
She spent seven years in prison for stabbing to death an ex-intelligence ministry official, Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi.
Despite being offered a reprieve if she retracted her rape allegation. Yet she refused to lie — even at the cost of her life.
Her courageous story and poetic diaries from prison are the subject of this documentary. “Seven Winters in Tehran”, which played at the Berlin Film Festival last month.
Somehow, Jabbari found the strength to forgive those who destroyed them and ultimately took her life. Even though her mother has never been able to do.
“Reyhaneh asked me to forgive the people who tortured her. And I tried for many years, but to this day. I cannot,” her mother, Shole Pakravan,
“Now with this movie, we are able to speak about these things and show it to the world.”
The film’s director, Steffi Niederzoll, said she was deeply inspired by the family’s strength.
“They have fought to break the circle of violence in Iran,” she said.