Masih Alinejad: As the mothers of Aban say, the "protests" continue
The documentary film "Be My Voice," which is dedicated to the life and activities of Masih Alinejad, a journalist and social activist, as well as the host and commentator of the Tablet program in the Persian section of the Voice of America, was screened at the New York Documentary Film Festival.
In addition to looking at the life of Masih Alinejad, this film also examines the campaign against the compulsory hijab and the November protests.
The documentary, directed by Nahid Persson, was screened on Tuesday evening, November 15, during the New York Documentary Film Festival. After the screening and a question-and-answer session, Masih Alinejad, in an interview with the Persian service of the Voice of America, expressed his satisfaction that the film "Be My Voice" was released to coincide with the anniversary of the November protests in Iran.
Ms. Alinejad said, “It was very important to me that the documentary be my voice, the voice of all those ordinary people who protested in November with a simple camera. Because in this film, I mean every ordinary citizen who feels responsible instead of being indifferent. From the heart of the street, a girl who films and says: Jesus, they are killing people here. But still she does not move away. And she keeps shouting: Death to Khamenei.”
Masih Alinejad added: "This film was the voice of Aban. Because in Aban, ordinary people took to the streets. People who were more progressive than many journalists, political activists, and more progressive than many claimants, voiced their protest against Khamenei and against the dictatorship. That's why it was important to me, because I don't think Aban is over. As the mothers of Aban say, the Aban protest continues."
He mentioned his brother's arrest as one of the most difficult moments he experienced during the making of the film, saying, "They told me: Don't call me at all. I'm so broken." He described how he told the director several times that he didn't want that part of the film to be shown, because "it would hurt more when the government saw me broken. But Nahid [Persson, the film's director] resisted and said: This is your life. When I'm with you, you cry, you fall, you break, you get up again and protest again. I can't censor you!"
Masih Alinejad says that it was very difficult for him when his sister spoke out against him and that he didn't even want to watch that scene in the cinema, because "I see that many people inside Iran are standing up with courage" and "my own brother didn't stand up against me, he resisted, and he spent two years in prison."
He says that although the film starts with the issue of the hijab, it reaches Aban, and "many may say, didn't Christ fight with the hijab? Why now about the Aban protests and why about overthrowing the regime? ... The reality of Iran is that we are always at war."
Masih Alinejad then went on to express her views on the importance of fighting against compulsory hijab, saying: "The Islamic Republic came with the hijab, and the hijab is like a pillar for it. When an Iranian woman can say no to religion, to the first compulsion, she will also say no to dictatorship."
Ms. Alinejad praised the film’s narrative and storyline, saying that although the story begins with her, it reaches “real heroes like Mostafa’s mother, Pouya’s mother, Ebrahim’s mother,” the mothers of other victims, and those who are fighting in the streets with a simple camera in their hands. “You see, the reporters from CNN, the New York Times, Bloomberg, they are all Iranian. But where did the news from Iran come from? It was the work of ordinary people. That’s why I think it told the story well, by the way. Because the director was also Iranian.”
The documentary film "Be My Voice" has won the Audience Award for Best Film at film festivals in Poland and Italy.
Source: Voice of America
