The Day I Became a Woman is a unique look at the role of women in the Middle East that weaves together the richly entertaining tales of three women from three generations struggling for independence: Hava, a nine-year-old about to be fitted for her first chador (the cloak that will cover her from head to toe for the rest of her life); Ahoo, a young woman in a chador peddling madly in an all-female bicycle race, followed by her husband threatening divorce; and Hoora, an old woman who goes shopping for everything denied to her in life.
Meshkini, her husband Iranian film auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who wrote the script, and their daughter, Samira, are directors who have worked to depict contemporary Iranian female existence. Following the welcome by Special Projects Global Cinema Sub-Committee Co-Chair, Victoria Hochberg, the audience in the DGA Los Angeles Theater 2 was also treated to a discussion on Iranian Cinema with actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (The House of Sand and Fog) and film scholar Azadeh Farahmand whose writings have been published in journals and anthologies like The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity. The discussion was moderated by Global Cinema Sub-Committee Co-Chair Chuck Workman.
