LAST NIGHT IN EDINBURGH

bita — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 10:43:18 +0000

When teen sisters Zahra and Hoda discover that their family holiday abroad is really a plan by their parents to deliver them both into forced marriages, the girls flee home to find their own ways of remaining in Edinburgh, testing the limits of their bond and the resolve of the adults who control their futures.

SYNOPSES

DIRECTED BY BITA SHAFIPOUR

While reading about the cases of child and forced marriages in the developing world, I came across a shocking number of cases of forced marriages in the UK and many other European countries. Only in 2013, an estimated 8000 women and children were forced to marry, while only 1301 of them had been reported to the Forced Marriage Unit. Nobody really knows the exact number of cases, because most of these women and children never report their case to the police or even the NGOs, fearing the detention of their parents.

While a lot of these marriages take place in the UK and are never reported, a good percentage of them take place abroad during the school holiday season. Forced marriage on its own at home has enough psychological toll, let alone going across the waters to another country and living with a family you’ve never known. The consequences of forced and child marriages are almost always unfortunate and sometimes utterly tragic.

Further research brought me closer to the work of several NGO’s that work on prevention of forced marriages as well as helping the survivors. One of these organizations came up with a very clever idea to help the girls who fear their trip abroad may be a plan by their parents or guardians to marry them. They advise young women and girls to carry a spoon in their underwear at the airport as their last resort to stop their trip. The authorities will be notified while they go through the metal detectors at the airports’ scanners. The airport security knows about this code and will handle the matter with much care and attention.

When Chris and I decided to make a short film about this topic, we really wanted to know what it would be like to be the girls and the parents going through such a shocking experience. We wanted to really feel for these two sisters who are born and raised in Edinburgh, grow up in a British society, have a normal life until they are faced with the greatest challenge of their lives: to become women over-night. We also really wanted to understand the parents, and see the world from their perspectives. They truly believe that their girls will be happier in a different society where they can easily marry up and have everything provided for them. We did not want to point our fingers to a specific culture or country. Forced marriages are common in many parts of the world and we wanted to address this issue on a global scale. We believe all of the countries including the UK are equally responsible in putting an end to this practice.

For more information on Forced Marriages in the UK visit: https://www.gov.uk/forced-marriage

For more information on Child Marriage visit: http://www.girlsnotbrides.org

Mission Statement:

A forced marriage is where one or both people do not (or in cases of people with learning disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used. It is an appalling and indefensible practice and is recognised in the UK as a form of violence against women and men, domestic/child abuse and a serious abuse of human rights.

Media:

Film

Contact:

info@sociarts.com

Featured for Category Slideshow Image:

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Rostam in Wonderland Web Series

SoCiArts.com — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:34:14 +0000

Executive Producer of the short animated series by Soroush Rezaee and Pouya Afshar

This is an animated project in which Rostam, the mythical Persian hero travels to present time Iran and finds himself challenged with the troubles of the modern Iranian society. In each episode, Rostam has to overcome the obstacles of different issues that are facing Iran today.

Created by Soroush Rezaee and Pouya Afshar

Mission Statement:

This is an animated project in which Rostam, the mythical hero of Persian empire ends up in present Iran to find out how crazy things had turned since the ancient times. Each episode will focus on a social issue of present Iran.

Winner of the top prize at the 2013 Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival

Official Selection of the 2013 Noor Film Festival.

رستم در سرزمین عجایب :

طرح این مجموعه شامل اپیسودهای کوتاه طنز است که به صورت سریالی ساخته می شود و هر قسمت، داستانی مجزا از قسمت های دیگر دارد.

در این مجموعه انیمیشن، رستم که نمادی از قهرمانان اسطوره ای ایران باستان است، هر بار بنا به دلیلی از سیمرغ می خواهد و یا توسط سیمرغ تحمیل می شود که به زمان معاصر بیاید. در این بین با مشکلات و مسائلی روبرو می شود که شاید برای انسان امروزی عادی شده و کمتر به چشم بیاید ولی برای رستم، اسطوره ی هزاره های پیشین، بسیار عجیب، دردناک و یا طنزآلود می آید.

رستم لزوما در پایان هر اپیسود، بازنده یا پیروز نمی شود بلکه هدف نمایش تعارضات به شکل طنز و نقد اجتماعی جامعه ی امروز ایران است. مشکلات تهیه ی دارو، معضل مواد مخدر، ترافیک، مسکن و ... ازبرخی موارد طرح شده در این مجموعه انیمیشن هاست.

Media:

Animation

Contact:

https://www.facebook.com/RostamInWonderLand

Affiliates:

Rostam in Wonderland Website

Featured for Category Slideshow Image:

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Shahnameh: The Epic of Persian Kings

SoCiArts.com — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:12:14 +0000

A new illustrated edition of the classic work written over one thousand years ago by Ferdowsi, one of Persia’s greatest poets. This new prose translation of the national epic is illuminated with over 500 pages of illustrations and will be published in March 2013 to coincide with the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings is a new illustrated edition of the classic work written over one thousand years ago by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, one of Persia’s greatest poets. This new prose translation of the national epic is illuminated with over 500 pages of illustrations and will be published in March 2013 to coincide with the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

Limited Editions

We have created a sumptuous limited edition of this Shahnameh especially for collectors, book lovers and Shahnameh aficionados. This red leather-bound beauty comes enclosed in a stunning printed, black cloth-bound box. The book has gilded edges, a ribbon marker and the book cover is embossed in gold. It is numbered and signed by the artist.

This edition of 299 will sell out quickly, so be sure to place your order early. It will make an impressive Nowruz present, an enduring gift for close friends, family and colleagues and will be treasured for generations to come.

Pre-purchases will be delivered by the 20th of March, 2013.

Mission Statement:

A little over a thousand years ago a Persian poet named Ferdowsi of Tous collected and put into heroic verse the millennium old mythological and epic traditions of Iran. It took him thirty years to write the sixty thousand verses that comprise the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings). This monumental tome is one of the most important literary works of Iran and like other great epics, such as Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, Nibelungenlied and Ramayana, it is a record of the human imaginative consciousness. It is well known and has been adapted through out the Near East, Central Asia and India but is mostly unknown in the West.

Media:

Book, Literature

Affiliates:

Epic of the Persian Kings

Featured for Category Slideshow Image:

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Evolution Revolution Opening Reception

evolutionrevolution — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 02:34:44 +0000

Event Date:

02/19/2011 - 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Event location

Address:

3026 Airport Avenue

City or Town:

Santa Monica

State or Province:

Featured for Category Slideshow Image:

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Shangool o Mangool

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Demo for 3D animation

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sprou

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SuperMan

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Old Lady

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Amoo Nowruz

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Amoo Nowruz

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motorcycle

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