'A woman is worth half a man' - Fighting for Iranian rights from Britain

Producer, Camera  - Maral Shafafy
Producer, Camera, Editor - Ekaterina Ochagavia
Executive Producer - Temujin Doran 

Haleh, an Iranian woman who has lived in Britain since the age of 15, says 'our lives have changed forever' after the brutal murder of a young woman in Tehran last September.

Mahsa Amini was arrested by the Iranian morality police for wearing her hijab 'improperly', but collapsed and died in custody a few days later.

Her death sparked huge international outrage and protest. In the UK, the Iranian community continues to turn out weekly to show solidarity with the movement in Iran, spearheaded by women and teenagers, demanding fundamental rights for women and pushing for a change in Iranian leadership.

We join part of the British movement, an activist group called United4Mahsa, to see how members are showing support and spreading awareness about the situation in Iran.

Vida: Love, Hope & Justice in Exile

One woman’s struggle for justice against the Iranian regime,
over 30 years on from the execution of her husband.

Director, Producer, Camera -  Maral Shafafy
Executive producer - Flora Gregory
Sound and original music- Antonio Martinez

In August 2021, a trial began in Stockholm, accusing an Iranian national, Hamid Nouri of murder and war crimes. Nouri was an Assistant Prosecutor at Gohardasht Prison in 1988 in Iran, a year when thousands of prisoners were killed for their political beliefs. 

Among those killed was Vida Rostamalipour’s husband, Majid Ivani, and her brother Parviz, both political activists then in their twenties. Vida is a claimant in the trial for her husband Majid. She is preparing to testify. 

In this small window of opportunity, Vida deliberates how she can best articulate the impact of the loss of her loved ones. She speaks of her activism in Iran and how she still holds on to hope in the face of a regime who has faced almost no consequences over their abuse of human rights in the country. 

Will Nouri be found guilty? Will Vida finally get justice?

Showreel 2021

A selection of highlights from projects filmed in 2021 while studying MA TV Journalism at Goldsmith's University. 

Resilient Women of Kara Tepe: Nazdar 

A short video about a Yazidi woman living in the Kara Tepe refugee camp in Lesvos and the work she is doing for Movement on the Ground (NGO). 

Directed, Producer - Maral Shafafy
Commissioned by Movement on the Ground