THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN
ROOZI KHE ZAN SHODAM



Iran, 2000, 78 mon, color

This film tells three intertwined tales of women's struggle for identity. "Hava" is the story of a young girl on the morning of her 9th birthday. She can't go out to play but has to stay at home because her mother and grandmother proclaim her a woman. Learning she was born at noon, the young girl asks for one more hour of girlhood. "Ahoo" tells the story of a young woman who is being pursued by her husband. She manages to escape but when her in-laws and relatives join the pursuit, she has to decide quickly whether to return to family life or not. "Hoora" follows an elderly woman who goes on a shopping spree, where she intends to buy all of the things she has ever wanted out of life.

"This film speaks frankly about the social oppression of women in today's Iran, going straight at the problem. Meshkini manages to win over to her cause all women and certainly many men. The wife and pupil of director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and first assistant director on the films of Samira Makhmalbaf, she is a new star in the family film house."