The Iranian Female Director's Narrative of Women's Self-Sacrifice during the Imposed War against Iran

HCHR_Ensieh Shahhosseini, the director of the movie “The Missing Hand” and the winner of the Human Rights Award at the 42nd Fajr Film Festival, said in an interview with the website of the High Council for Human Rights: “The story of my film is the story of the presence of brave and selfless women who represent their bravery behind the war front and in the banks of the Karun River during the imposed war.

Pointing to the fact that she had always been concerned about making a film on the presence of women behind the war fronts and in support of the warriors of the Sacred Defense era, Shahhosseini added: “The appearance of the story is that a number of women wash the clothes of the warriors and a female reporter take photos of them and earn money by selling the photos. But after seeing the sacrifices of Iranian warriors and women, she is greatly affected and spiritually changed.

This female director clarified: “The cowardly attacks that took place against Iranian warriors, women and children during the Sacred Defense, are similar to today's war in Gaza, where defenseless women and children are killed. In my story, the women who seek peace and not war, when their hands are injured by the fragments of bones left in the washed clothes of the warriors, instead of feeling pain, they send blessings. Who is purer and kinder than these women whom the criminals shoot or bombard! These scenes are only a part of the crimes that have been depicted in my film during the imposed war and the era of Sacred Defense.

Shahhosseini also stated: “Human rights claimants intend to diminish this bravery for the young generation, but with the documented and dramatized artworks of those sacrifices and oppressions, the epic become more effective and lasting. For example, in the case of Gaza, when only the statistics of the number of martyrs are given without pictures and documents, it may have a less impact on the audience, but when the same statistics are accompanied by the scenes of the killing of civilians, women and children by the Zionist regime or for example picture of a child with a doll in her hand sitting on the ruins of the war, all the pain and sorrow caused by the war will be transferred to the audience, and this is the story of the drama.

In the end, while thanking the High Council for Human Rights, she said: “I received many awards, both at the international and domestic levels, but the HCHR award is very valuable to me, because the founders of this award saw the fine points of my film and I am grateful of this understanding and insight. I wish all the judges of Fajr Festival could see the elegance of the story of my film.