NASRIN is an immersive portrait of attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of the world’s most prominent human rights activists and political prisoners. Nasrin has long fought for the rights of women, children, LGBT prisoners, religious and ethnic minorities, journalists and artists, and those facing the death penalty. She was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who were protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law, and she was sentenced to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes (12 years of which she must serve). From prison, she has continued to challenge the authorities. An Amnesty International petition calling for her release received over a million signatures from 200 countries. She has received several international human rights awards, the latest being The Right Livelihood Award, known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize," which has been honoring courageous changemakers for the past forty years.
Written and directed by Jeff Kaufman, produced by Marcia Ross, and secretly filmed in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make it, the film also tells the story of Iran’s remarkably resilient women’s rights movement. Read more about Nasrin and the film: https://www.nasrinfilm.com/ PANELISTS: Jeff Kaufman produced, directed, and wrote the documentaries Every Act Of Life (2018 Tribeca premiere, aired June 2019 on American Masters), The State of Marriage, Father Joseph, The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America, Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman, and Education Under Fire, plus a number of short films for Amnesty International, programs for The Discovery Channel, and The History Channel. He also edited/designed a book based on the film Every Act Of Life, contributed cartoons to The New Yorker, and illustrations to The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, wrote/illustrated several children's books, and hosted daily radio shows in Vermont and Los Angeles. Marcia Ross produced the documentaries Every Act of Life, The State of Marriage, Father Joseph, and The Savoy King. She has an over 3-decade career as an independent casting director and casting executive, serving 16 years as EVP for Casting at Walt Disney Motion Pictures, and 5 years as VP for Casting and Talent Development at Warner Brothers TV. Some of her film and television credits include Clueless, Cujo, thirtysomething, Murder in Mississippi, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Diaries, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Lookout, Enchanted, Oblivion, and Parental Guidance. She has received career achievement awards from the Casting Society of America and the Hollywood Film Festival. Nayereh Tohidiis professor and former chair of the Gender & Women Studies Department and the founding director of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is also Coordinator of the Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran at the UCLA Iranian Studies Program & Center for Near Eastern Studies. She has been recipient of Fulbright lectureship and research in the former Soviet Union, post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University; Stanford University; the Woodrow Wilson International Center; and NEH grant. She has published extensively and has consulted the United Nations (UNICEF and UNDP) on projects concerning gender and development in the Middle East and post-Soviet Eurasia. As a transnational activist scholar, Tohidi represented women NGOs at both the third and fourth World Conferences on Women in Nairobi and Beijing sponsored by the United Nations. |
