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“Dilemma” is a quirky half-hour program that documents a series of conversations between the filmmaker and young Rafieh, a devout Islamic woman who aspires to make films in order to advance her own religious fervor. The film opens with a sequence in which the filmmaker chats with Rafieh and two other Iranian women: the internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Tamineh Milani, and a popular TV actress. All three women are daughters of Islamic clergymen but each defied her father by pursuing a film career. “Dilemma” then pursues Rafieh’s personal struggle to make films in defiance of her cleric father while also in defense of Islam. As the film unravels, Rafieh inadvertently reveals the ironies and contradictions of infusing fundamentalist religion into our most modern art form, cinema. We eventually come to admire Rafieh’s independence in pursuing what her father considers is an evil art, but also wonder if Rafieh isn’t caught up in her own self-made dilemma. Ultimately, “Dilemma” is a tug of war between the traditional and modernist forces at play in contemporary Iran.
Director: Mehrdad Farid
Documentary
24 min
DVCam
Color
2002
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