On the edge of the Revolution | VPRO Documentary
48Iranian-Dutch Filmmaker Beri Shalmashi travels to northern Iraq near the border with Iran for Frontline. For six months, Iranians have been taking to the streets to demonstrate against the regime. The protests are being crushed with brute force, thousands of people have been arrested and the first executions have been carried out.
In the mountainous border region between Iraq and Iran, she hears firsthand stories of Iranian refugees who are no longer safe in their homeland. She also sees how the Kurdish opposition is trying to fight the oppression of the government in Iran.
The reason for the popular uprising in Iran is the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Jina Masha Amini. Amini was abused by the morality police in Iran because her headscarf did not fit properly; this abuse was fatal to her. At her funeral, the first major demonstration arose and the cry for change has only increased since then. Shalmashi wanted to get as close to the resistance as possible, this took her to Iraqi Kurdistan where Iran's opposition has been gathering and thinking about a democratic Iran for decades.
What is brewing on the fringes of the revolution? Shalmashi speaks to people who are involved daily with the uprising in Iran but can no longer be there. She meets refugee Iranians who were present at the protests and is confronted with the grief of family members who have lost people. Even on the fringes of the revolution, life is not without danger. The area is regularly bombarded by Iranian missiles and drones and deaths occur. Still, new recruits who have left everything behind and are being trained as Peshmerga arrive daily. Human Rights organizations are also trying from Iraqi Kurdistan to map everything as best they can and provide assistance.
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