SYNOPSIS
In the summer of 2007, an older man approaches Reyhaneh Jabbari and asks the architecture student who has a side job as an interior decorator for her help in the design of offices. During the site inspection, he tries to rape her. Reyhaneh stabs him in self-defence. She is arrested for murder and sentenced to death. Reyhaneh was to spend the next seven years in prison while her family hired lawyers and made the public aware of the case. However, in spite of the efforts of national and international politicians and human rights organisations, the Iranian judiciary continued to cite the “right of blood-revenge”. This meant that, as long as Reyhaneh did not withdraw her accusations against the man, his family could demand her death. Reyhaneh stuck to her testimony and was hanged at the age of 26.

The film premiered at the Perspective Deutsches Kino section of the 73th edition of the Berlinale Film Festival.

ABOUT
Steffi Niederzoll was born in Nuremberg in 1981. She studied at the KHM in Cologne and at the EICTV in Cuba. Her short films have screened successfully at numerous renowned film festivals. She took part in various directing master classes and was a scholarship holder at the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Turkey. In addition to her film work, she is also involved in interdisciplinary artistic work: she was a member of the core group of the collective "1000 Gestalten", which caused a worldwide sensation with its performance during the G20 summit in Hamburg. Her collective works have been presented at the Brecht Festival, the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde and Vejle, Denmark, among others.