Iranian cinema is brilliant.

So I declared after watching Rakshan Bani-Etemad's documentary last night. Described as a documentary on women in contemporary Iran against the backdrop of the 2001 presidential elections, Our Times was all that and more. The documentary started off by showing the role of the youth in the 2001 elections - how they campaigned for Khatami, the speeches by Khatami and the fervor in the people on the night before the election. The documentary then shifted its focus to the women who had submitted their names as presidential candidates, but were not declared eligible due to various reasons. After a series of interviews with some of the candidates, the director goes back to a 25 year old woman - Arezoo Bayat, who wanted to run for president. A single mother and poor, it shows how she struggles to find a place to live, keep a job and feed her mother and daughter and at the same time face criticism and be shunned by others because she has no husband. A very moving story that ends on a depressing note, Our Times is a stark reminder of the struggle women have to face, no matter where they are.