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In her home country ,Mahnaz Mohammadi is known to be a committed activist fighting for women’s right and gender equality. Her level of involvement in these issues has brought her on collision course with the political regime of Iran several times, leading to a couple of arrests and attempts to silence her voice, which have luckily been unsuccessful. Her work as a director therefore revolves around the concepts of equality and freedom as well as the social realities of her home country when, for example, she explores issues like homelessness and drug addiction like in her first feature “Mr. Vali”. In “Son-Mother”, she takes a look at the living conditions of regular people trying to cope with international economic sanctions, exposing a system which has become more cruel and repressive while forcing its people to make brutal decisions about their lives and those they love most.

“Son-Mother” screened at...

Directed by Mahnaz Mohammadi (her feature fiction debut) and written by Mohammad Rasoulof (a renowned Iranian filmmaker), Son-Mother is about exactly what its title infers. The labels themselves are somewhat subverted, though. Split into two halves with interstitials, “Son” actually centers on Leila (Raha Khodayari) while “Mother” stars Amir (Mahan Nasiri). The reason for the switch is that these sections prove as much about who’s not on-screen as who is. In a conservative culture balanced upon reputation, these characters are ultimately forced to sacrifice their own happiness in the moment for the other’s potential future. “Son” is therefore about what Leila does to protect her boy while “Mother” concerns what he must endure to return the favor. And hope for a happy ending seems forever like fantasy.

The drama is born from tragedy: Leila becoming a widow. It was okay to work a factory job and raise two...