Film | GERMANY – IRAN THE PROTAGONISTS
Dr. SHIRIN EBADI – For many years, Iranian lawyer Dr. Shirin Ebadi has been fighting for increased human rights and freedom in Iran, prompting her to found the Center for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran. Through her battles and her ceaseless pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, Ebadi has dedicated herself to the rights of all Iranians, but especially to women’s, children’s and refugee rights. On October 10, 2003, Ebadi was recognized for her efforts with the Nobel Peace Prize—the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian to have received this prize—but her battle for Iranian freedom continues to this day.
PROFESSOR DR. PAYAM AKHAVAN – A former war crimes prosecutor, Dr. Payam Akhavan is a professor of international law at McGill University in Montréal. He teaches and researches in the areas of public international law and international criminal law, with a particular interest in human rights and multiculturalism, UN reforms and the prevention of genocide. Akhavan has published numerous articles and books. His article Beyond Impunity about the chances and barriers existing in international criminal prosecution, published in 2001 in the American Journal of International Law, is considered to be one of the most significant published journal essays in contemporary legal studies. Professor Akhavan was the first Legal Advisor to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and played a key role in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic. He also served with the UN in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Guatemala, East Timor and Rwanda, and was appointed as legal advisor in many important cases before the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Professor Akhavan is a prominent human rights advocate for Iranian political prisoners and cofounder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, an organization that prepares for legal action against Iranian leaders by documenting human rights violations committed.
Dr. MOHSEN KADIVAR – The Shiite cleric and philosopher, university lecturer, author and political dissident, Dr. Mohesen Kadivar is one of the leading cleric critics of the Iranian system of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, established by Khomeini. Kadivar studied theology and earned a PhD in Islamic law and Islamic philosophy. For a long time, Kadivar has been a dedicated advocate for more democracy and religious reforms in Iran, voicing concerns and public criticism that have earned him both acclaim and disgrace, awards and 18 month prison sentences (late 1990s). Despite the moments of ill- favor, Kadivar continues to voice his opinions today.
MEHDI MOHSENI – In his publications, blogger and journalist Mehdi Mohseni has advocated for reforms in Iran. He was also Mousavi’s election assistant prior to the presidential elections. In the summer of 2009, he came to Germany to attend a scientific exchange, but he has been unable to return since. Now living in exile, Mohseni remains in Germany because Iran would be too dangerous.
MITRA KHALATBARI – Award-winning journalist Mitra Khalatbari has experienced the consequences of the controversial presidential elections firsthand. To escape the pressure and the persecution of the regime, in Autumn 2009, she fled from Iran to Cologne and has been living in exile since.
THE CREW
ALI SAMADI AHADI (director & author) Director and author Ali Samadi Ahadi was born in 1972 in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz. In 1985, when he was 12 years old, he came to Germany without his family and later took his Abitur in Hannover. In Kassel, he studied visual communication with the focus on film and television. At the end of the 90s, he started his career as a filmmaker, and since then, Ahadi participated in several documentaries and reports as director, film editor or cinematographer. For his documentary CULTURE CLAN, Ahadi was nominated for the Rose d’Or award,
and in Cape Town, he won the Channel O Award in the category of “Best Foreign Music Film.” A flood of awards followed soon after for his documentary LOST CHILDREN in co-production with Oliver Stoltz: The film won the German Film Award 2006 as well as numerous international awards (among others, the UNICEF Award and Al Jazeera Award). Recently, Ahadi made his first feature film SALAMI ALEIKUM, in 2009, reaching a top position in the Arthouse charts with this culture clash comedy.
Cast of the motion comic plots
PEGAH FERYDONI (AZADEH) Pegah Ferydoni was born in Tehran in 1983. At the peak of the Iran-Iraq war, her parents – artists and political intellectuals – escaped with their two-year-old daughter to Germany. She spent her childhood in West Berlin, and already as a teenager, she gained first experiences as an actress. She appeared in several TV and film productions before she became known to a broader audience with the ARD series TÜRKISCH FÜR ANFÄNGER (TURKISH FOR BEGINNERS). She was playing one of the central characters in the three seasons of this award-winning series, appeared on screen in Til Schweiger’s successful comedy RABIT WITHOUT EARS 2 and recently in WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, the directorial debut of the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat.
NAVID AKHAVAN (KAVEH) Navid Akhavan was born in Tehran in 1980. Due to the Iran- Iraq war, his family escaped from Iran . After living in the USA for some time, Navid, his parents and his little brother moved to Germany. He played his first important leading role in Elmar Fischer’s FREMDER FREUND and made appearances in TV productions like KÖNIG VON KREUZBERG. Recently, he starred in Arash T. Riahi’s award- winning refugee drama FOR A MOMENT, FREEDOM, in Shirin Neshat’s directorial debut WOMEN WITHOUT MEN and in Ali Samadi Ahadi’s comedy SALAMI ALEIKUM. In addition Akhavan is a stage actor and singer.
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