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Transsexual In Iran
“Be Like Others (also known as Transsexual in Iran) is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about transsexuals in Iran. It explores issues of gender and sexuality while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran clinic. Although homosexual relationships are illegal (punishable by death) in Iran, sex reassignment operations are permitted. In 1983, spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini passed a fatwa allowing sex-change operations as a cure for “diagnosed transsexuals”. Be Like Others shows the experiences of male and female patients at Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali’s Mirdamad Surgical Centre, a sex-reassignment clinic in Tehran. One of them is Ali Askar, a 24 year-old man who faces harassment from other men due to his feminine appearance and behaviour. He does not want to become a woman but sees no other options for him in Iranian society. He decides to go ahead with the surgery despite death threats from his father and finds support from Vida, a post-operative transsexual he meets at the clinic. By the end of the film, Ali has become a woman named Negar. She has been disowned by her family, experienced depression and has had to work as a prostitute. 20 year-old Anoosh is another young man who has been ostracised due to his femininity. His boyfriend feels more comfortable when Anoosh dresses as a woman, and in contrast to Ali, Anoosh’s mother is supportive of his desire to change sex. The end of the film shows Anoosh — now Anahita — happy and engaged to her boyfriend.” Origin: Documentary Heaven
“Filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian explores the proliferation of gender reassignment surgery in a society where homosexuality is punishable by death in this documentary that ponders the extreme measures taken by gay Iranians who risk execution if the truth about their sexuality is uncovered. In Iran, to be homosexual is to live in fear. Yet despite the fact that homosexual men and women in Iran risk their lives simply by revealing their sexual preferences, the fact that prominent sex-change surgeon Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali performs more gender reassignment surgeries in one year than the entire country of France does in one decade offers telling insight into a culture that accepts both genders though refuses to acknowledge any gray area in between. For an emerging generation of men and women who are forced by theocracy to deny their true selves, this drastic transformation provides the only hope for survival. “ – Origin: Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
View the film on Documentary Heaven and share it with others.
“Be like others” – the site of the film
View BBC News comments.
FilmCatcher: Be Like Others Interview-Tanaz Eshaghian
derStandard.at: Die Angleichung als letzter Ausweg
Identities 2009 – Queer Film Festival
Many other links to comments can be found here.
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