Educational and non-theatrical DVDs of this moving and intimate documentary by Hamid Rahmanian are now available in a limited release to coincide with No-Rooz, the celebration of the Persian new year.
The Glass House tells the story of Omid-e-Mehr, a center for girls in the heart of Tehran. The Omid-e-Mehr Foundation was founded in Iran in 2004, in London in 2006, and in the US in 2008, by the formidable Marjaneh Halati, an Iranian-born, London-based social psychologist and psychotherapist. Under her guidance, the workers at the center are tasked with providing a holistic (and loving) approach to helping the young women that come there in realizing self-awareness, self-determination and self-sufficiency in modern Iranian society. These young women come from abusive homes, are motherless, have drug addictions, or just do not have the supportive resources at hand for growing up as healthy and happy members of a still quite repressive society for women.
Director Rahmanian gains deep trust and intimate access to Halati and some of her charges. The film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, opened the IRI-Continental Film Festival in South Africa, won the Human Rights Award at Dokufest in Kosovo, and was also a selection of the IDFA last year. There are a series of community screenings set for this year that various individuals are hosting around the world. The newly-released DVD includes scenes not included in the final cut of the film, an extended interview with Halati, and a short film called Saman. Visit the film's website to learn more about the film and its makers, and to order the DVD.
Comments