Divorce Iranian Style/Runaway Review

Best known for Sisters In Law, a documentary about female barristers in Cameroon, British director Kim Longinotto has long been travelling the world to bring us inspiring stories of women’s struggles for justice without any heavy-handed agenda — feminist or otherwise. Instead her films are, as these two Iranian examples show, full of humour and pathos, emphasising what we have in common rather than our differences. The first follows four divorce cases to both hilarious and tragic effect, while Runaway examines the plight of five girls who have escaped from home to Tehran. That Longinotto and her Iranian co-director Ziba Mir-Hosseini were granted the access to make such films is impressive; that they achieved such moving results is amazing.