Wings of Desire Institute

Tehran's untold sociopolitical history through rare, unseen film archives spanning over a century.

Before the Islamic Revolution in Iran, women's lives were strongly determined by two contradictory factors: the traditional patriarchy and the shah's modernisation policies. This film-excerpt collage starts in 1932 – the year the first Iranian film with sound was made – and ends in 1979 revealing how, during this period, women were depicted by generally male film directors.