Second Run DVD - Coming Soon

Divorce Iranian Style / Runaway
Two films by Kim Longinotto, UK 1998 and 2001.

KIM LONGINOTTO
Internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is renowned for creating extraordinary human portraits of women on the fringes of societies (in countries such as Japan, Kenya, South Africa and Iran) and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion. The stories that she records are those frequently characterised by sexual, political and social oppression. Her latest film ROUGH AUNTIES has just been completed.

Second Run DVD are delighted to be releasing the first volume of their Kim Longinotto documentaries: DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE and RUNAWAY.

DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE (1998)
Dispelling images of Iran as a country of war, hostages and fatwas, and images of Iranian women as passive victims of a terrible system, this film is a subtle and intimate look at Iranian women's lives in country often associated with stereotypes of Islamic fanaticism. Set in the Family Law Courts in central Tehran, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE follows the stories of three women (Jamileh, Ziba and Maryam) who are attempting to gain divorces from abusive and unhappy marriages. The film showcases the strength, ingenuity and guile with which these women confront biased laws, an almost Kafaka-esque administrative system and their enraged husbands and families.

Awards
Winner - Viewpoint Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Best Film
Winner - Chicago Int'l Film Festival, Silver Hugo Award
Winner - San Francisco Int'l Film Festival, Grand Prize for Best Documentary
Winner - BAFTA Flaherty Award for Best Documentary
Honorable Mention - Jerusalem Documentary Festival

RUNAWAY (2001)
Set in a refuge for girls in Tehran and follows the stories of five young runaway girls who arrive there, having fled from their homes. The film explores their experiences of male authority, their longing for freedom and respect, and their hopes for a more positive future. The centre is run by the charismatic and formidable Mrs Shirazi, who protects the girls from their families and helps them renegotiate their relationships. RUNAWAY shows how Iranian women are learning to challenge the old rules and how rapidly their country is changing.

Special Features
- Optimal dual layer disc
- Restored picture and sound
- New filmed interview with Kim Longinotto
- Booklet essays

Awards
Winner - Silver Dhow, Zanzibar International
Finalist - Joris Ivens Award, IDFA, Netherlands
Winner - Childrens Rights Award, Osnabruck Film Festival, Germany
Winner - Best Documentary, Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema

The Girl from Hunan
(Xiangnu xiaoxiao)
A film by Xie Fei, China 1986.

The heartbreaking tale of a young girl sold into an arranged marriage with a 2 year old boy who she must raise as his nanny until he is old enough to marry her. She is expected honour tradition and to tow the line so far as social proprieties are concerned, but the young girl rebels against the edicts of her elders until at 16, she falls in love with another man...

Though set in turn-of-the-century China, The Girl from Hunan deliberately parallel the state of affairs in the China of the late 1980s.

"Vividly recreates an era long gone, yet somehow still very close" Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Black Snow
(Ben ming nian)
A film by Xie Fei, China 1990.

Winner Silver Bear Berlin International Film Festival 1990

A politically daring tale of urban alienation and despair which tells of former prisoner Li Huiquan (Jiang Wen) who arrives back in his native Beijing, to find he has no home to return to. With no family, friends and few job prospects his underworld contacts try to drag him back in...

Taking the classic crime thriller hook — former con struggling to go straight — Black Snow emerges as a powerful study of displacement, of the fear felt by many Chinese that perhaps there would be no place for them in the new, just-emerging China and takes place at the juncture of the earth-shattering 1989 student rebellion.

Winner of the 1990 “100 Flowers Best Film Award” (Chinese cinema’s Oscar).

"Exerts a steely fascination" Rotterdam Film Festival

Diary for my Children
(Napló gyermekeimnek)
A film by Márta Mészáros, Hungary 1984.

From one of the world’s most accomplished women directors, Meszaros’ film connects the personal with the political, by portraying the impact of individuals upon history and of historical forces upon individual lives. Autobiographical, and the first in her renowned trilogy of ‘Diary’ films (which Second Run will also release).

"A brilliantly told tale about idealism and corruption" Channel 4 Film Guide