Shaparak Shajarizadeh

A War on Women is a documentary that revisits the 2022 Iranian uprising, not as a spontaneous outburst, but as the powerful emergence of a feminist resistance that has developed over the course of forty years. While the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini—which occurred while she was in the custody of Iran’s morality police—drew international attention, the film goes further, bringing to light the long and often overlooked history of the struggle against the world’s only theocratic regime. From the first protests against the mandatory veil in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution to the young women who today risk their lives in the streets, the narrative weaves together the personal and political journeys of seven extraordinary protagonists.

Irwin Cotler and his team fight for justice and human rights in the cases and causes of Raif Badawi, imprisoned Saudi blogger; Shaparak Shajarizadeh, champion of women's rights in Iran; Anatoly Sharansky, famed refusnik; and Bill Browder, creator of the most important human rights tool of this century.