Reading Lolita in Tehran

Channel 4 - Unreported World: Iran's Dating Revolution (2016)
HDTV | 1280x720 | .MKV/AVC @ 2753 Kbps | 22mn 54s | 473 MiB
Audio: English AAC 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: English
Genre: Documentary

Unreported World visits the Islamic Republic of Iran for the first time, to take a rare look at the reality of life for young Iranians. With nearly half of 18 to 35-year-olds single, the country is in the midst of a marriage crisis. In response, the government has set up an official online matchmaking site. But, as reporter Shaunagh Connaire and director Adam Patterson discover, behind this new website is an army of traditional matchmakers fielding calls from mothers in Tehran who want to find spouses for their sons and daughters. Tehran brims with contradictions. Many young Iranians are shunning marriage and enjoying newly popular ways to meet people, such as Instagram.

BBC - Iranian Enough (2013)
PDTV | 832x468 | .MKV/AVC @ 1366 Kbps | 46mn 57s | Audio: English AAC 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: English | 511 MiB
Genre: Documentary

Musician and film-maker Roxana Vilk lives in Scotland but grew up in Tehran. Her family left Iran in the wake of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and since the breakdown of diplomatic relations between London and Tehran in 2011, she has been unable to return. In this film, Roxana explores her identity as a British-Iranian and finds out how to teach her children about a country they have never visited. From a tower block in Glasgow to the glamour of Los Angeles, home to the largest group of Iranians living abroad, she finds out how other Iranian migrants keep their culture alive. While some of the questions she raises are specific to the Iranian diaspora, this film speaks to broader issues of identity faced by immigrants the world over.

In this docudrama based on true events, a mid-'80s Michigan housewife finds her life turned upside down when a vacation to Tehran with her Iranian husband turns into virtual imprisonment for her and her young daughter. Betty Mahmoody (Sally Field) is reluctant to visit the wartorn homeland of her doctor husband, Moody (Alfred Molina). But, depressed about the racism of the American medical establishment and pining for contact with his family, Moody convinces her to join him for a two-week jaunt. The Islamic fundamentalism and strange customs of Iran bewilder and frighten Betty and her daughter, Mahtob (Sheila Rosenthal). But nothing prepares her for Moody's announcement that the family will be remaining in Tehran indefinitely.