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Press Representative

David Magdael & Associates 
dmagdael[at]tcdm-associates.com

Press Kit

 
Human Rights Day screening of “Nasrin”

December 2022

Register for the screening here!


Resistance on Film: NASRIN

December 2022

The film is a revealing portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of the world’s most courageous human rights activists and a political prisoner in Iran. In the courts and on the streets, Nasrin, a human rights lawyer has long fought for the rights of women, children, LGBT prisoners, religious minorities, journalists, artists, and those who face the death penalty in her native Iran. She was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who protested Iran’s mandatory hijab law, and she was sentenced to 38 years in prison plus 148 lashes. Even from prison, she has continued to challenge the authorities. The film features acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, journalist Ann Curry, exiled women’s rights activist Mansoureh Shojaee, and Nasrin’s equally courageous husband, Reza Khandan. Continue Here


Ready To Fly, Part Of The Highlights This March On IWonder

February 2022

This March IWonder celebrates International Women’s Day with the launch of eight new films looking at the challenges and issues that continue to undermine true gender equality, while shining a light on real-life heroines who continue to challenge bias, discrimination, assumption and misunderstanding over what it means to be a woman in the modern world.

Opening with a film that has featured at film festivals around the world, and which Newsweek calls “A profile in courage for the 21st century”, ‘Nasrin’ tells the story of an Iranian lawyer fighting against her country’s harsh laws, many of them aimed at women. ‘Code’ and ‘Kid or Not to Kid’ then examine the experiences and prejudices faced by women when they come face-to-face with society’s expectations of their roles in life.

Then in this month’s IWonder What Top Five, we look at the different perspectives of women around the world, including the stories of three, young women trying to find their place in modern Russia. Continue Here


Doc Talk: Iranian injustice; dreams of Ghana; Tulsa recalled; a constitutional right recognized
June 2021

June 2021

As President Biden considers his policies toward Iran he will probably bear in mind the subject of Jeff Kaufman’s “Nasrin,” one of the best documentaries of 2020.

Three years ago, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a fearless activist and lawyer for those unjustly persecuted by the Iranian legal system, was herself convicted on bogus charges. She was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. After a hunger strike and a bout with COVID-19, she was briefly released but soon returned to the notorious Evin Prison. Suffering from a heart ailment, she languishes there under harsh conditions.

Filmed in secret by Iranians who risked their freedom doing so, the documentary follows Sotoudeh as she takes up cases ranging from that of a minor facing the death penalty to women prosecuted for refusing to wear the hijab. Undaunted by the threat of persecution, she persists in her struggle as the forces of those opposing her inevitably close in. Continue Here


Nasrin | The most important film you will watch this year
June 2021

June 2021

In a documentary brilliantly crafted by Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross, the inspiring story of Nasrin Sotoudeh's fight for equality and her own freedom from an Iranian prison is bravely captured on film. News24's lifestyle editor Herman Eloff sits down with the filmmakers to discuss the making of the film.

This week marked the third year that human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been incarcerated as a political prisoner in the most dangerous and worst prison in Iran known for its inhumane medical and psychological conditions.

Surviving Covid-19, heart issues, and a 40-day hunger strike, her incredibly inspiring story of resilience and her fight for equal rights are bravely captured in the critically acclaimed documentary Nasrin. Continue Here


‘Nasrin’ Review
June 2021

June 2021

For decades, human rights activist and attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has worked to change the status quo in Iran. After the Iranian Revolution, the country greatly changed with regards to women’s rights. Women were purged from government positions, forced to observe Islamic dress code, and lost the right to divorce or to have child custody. To combat these societal oppressions, Sotoudeh fought to free death row inmates and children accused of major crimes, and for a woman’s choice not to wear her hijab.

Jeff Kaufman’s brisk and empowering documentary, simply titled “Nasrin,” chronicles the great lengths her and others have traversed for human rights in the Middle East country. Continue Here


Nasrin review – this is what a superhero looks like in the real world
May 2021

May 2021

This clandestinely shot documentary about Iranian human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh reveals what superheroism looks like in the real world. As significant as the tireless work in lawyer’s cabinets, drab constitutional courts and prison visiting rooms is her symbolic importance: her sinewy persistence and true courage in standing up to Iran’s dogmatic regime have the potential to ignite such qualities in others, and unlock the collective action needed to shift this sclerotic society.

Narrated by Olivia Colman, the film details how this one-time journalist began practicing law in 2003, specialising in representing minorities, opposition activists and minors on death row – all groups denied the human rights Iran’s clerics claim are incompatible with Islamic values. Sotoudeh was arrested for endangering state security in 2010, and served more than two years in Tehran’s Evin prison, where she undertook a 50-day hunger strike. Continue Here


Nasrin and The 8th — two powerful films about courageous women
May 2021

May 2021

How mundane are movie heroes, how rare the reality. The difference is glaring watching Nasrin, one of two powerful new documentaries about women pushing back against the overlap of church and state. The first is a portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian lawyer whose life has been spent representing women and children in a theocracy that imperils both. Some film-lovers will have seen Sotoudeh in Taxi, the 2015 movie secretly made by dissident director Jafar Panahi.

Much of this project too had to be filmed covertly, a chronicle of a woman who three years later was charged with multiple offences after defending a group who removed their compulsory hijabs on Tehran’s Revolution Street. She has been jailed ever since. Sotoudeh’s stoicism and humour — Olivia Colman voices her prison letters — only make the film harder to shake.
Continue Here


Nasrin — The Nelson Mandela of Ira‪n‬
February 2021

February 2021

A special episode of Press the Button features an interview with the filmmakers behind "Nasrin," a documentary about Nasrin Sotoudeh. A prominent human rights lawyer and activist, Sotoudeh was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who were protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law, and she was sentenced to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes. Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross speak with Farshad Farahat about the making of the film, and Sotoudeh's status today. Listen Here


Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross on Documenting Human Rights Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh and the beauty of Iranian Culture for ‘Nasrin’
January 2021

January 2021

In an extensive conversation with Awards Daily’s Shadan Larki, director Jeff Kaufman and producer Marcia Ross discuss their new documentary Nasrin, which chronicles the work of renowned human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh.

During the course of his celebrated career Jeff Kaufman has chronicled religious figures, American icons, and has also helped us to learn the names of heroes who, all too often, remain undervalued in our public consciousness. As is the case with Nasrin Sotoudeh, Kaufman’s latest subject, an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and human rights activist. Through their documentary Nasrin, Kaufman and his producing partner Marcia Ross hope to catapult Sotoudeh’s mission into the spotlight.

Sotoudeh, who is currently serving a prison sentence for her legal defense of young women protesting the hijab, proved to be a uniquely challenging subject for Kaufman and Ross. Beginning in 2016, Kaufman and Ross worked with crews in Iran to get secretly filmed footage of Sotoudeh out of the country, all the while knowing that her participation in the film could get Sotoudeh and her family in trouble with authorities. Continue Here


‘Nasrin’ could slide into the documentary Oscar race, thanks to its likable and fierce subject Nasrin Sotoudeh
January 2021

January 2021

When it comes to the Best Documentary Oscar race, it helps when films have a face that voters can root for. Sure, voters often want to reward a topic that feels relevant or important, and they surely desire quality filmmaking. But history shows that giving audiences a clear protagonist to follow and care about improves a movie’s chances of being nominated. With that in mind, Oscar pundits would be wise to keep an eye on “Nasrin” and its secret weapon: its fierce and endearing subject Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Directed by Emmy nominee Jeff Kaufman (“American Masters”) and narrated by Olivia Colman, the doc, filmed secretly in Iran, follows human rights lawyer Sotoudeh on her quest for justice against an oppressive regime. Many of her clients are set to be executed and she vigorously fights against the use of the death penalty. Her biggest cause, however, may be rebuffing unjust mandatory hijab laws for Iranian women. But it’s not all courtroom drama. The film paints a deeply personal portrait of Iran’s fiercest women’s rights advocate. We see her work tirelessly for her clients but also witness her home life as a loving mother and wife. Sotoudeh’s deep affection for her country, the arts and the human spirit is on beautiful display. When she is jailed for her activism and separated from her family, it’s a brutal moment that stings your heart. Continue Here


Angélique Kidjo Enters Oscars Song Race With ‘How Can I Tell You?’ From ‘Nasrin’ (EXCLUSIVE)
January 2021

January 2021

Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has released the music video for “How Can I Tell You?” from the new documentary “Nasrin.” The song is written by Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music). The film chronicles the life of activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who fought for women’s rights in Iran, as well as the rights of children and journalists, and was arrested in June 2018. She’s serving a sentence of 38 years in prison.

Said Kidjo who featured on the BBC’s list of the 100 most inspiring and influential women: “I am so glad to be part of this beautiful project. I want Nasrin to be free because if she’s not free, none of us are free. She’s fighting for human rights, the right to decide what we want to do with our lives, the right to choose our own future. I think each one of us around the world — it doesn’t matter where you live — you should be sensitive to the fight of Nasrin. We all have to come together and continue putting pressure on the Iranian government to free her. She needs us now to rally around her, to carry the message of freedom of speech, freedom for all, to be at the center of our concerns day in and day out. That’s why I am standing side by side with Nasrin. Continue Here


The 'intense humanity' of Nasrin Sotoudeh - Interview with Christiane Amanpour
December 2020

December 2020

Director Jeff Kaufman and producer Marcia S. Ross's new documentary "Nasrin" follows Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is currently behind bars.

View Interview


‘Nasrin’ Review: Righting Wrongs in Iran
December 2020

December 2020

“Nasrin,” a surreptitiously filmed documentary about the imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, offers a strangely cheerful portrait of extreme sacrifice and ongoing suffering.

The uplift is a little unnerving, the bright positivity of Sotoudeh echoed among her supporters (including the dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi) and clients. One young woman, Narges Hosseini, arrested for protesting Iran’s mandatory head-covering law, smiles calmly as she accepts the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence. Her courage, like that of so many in this film, is breathtaking. Continue Here


Review: ‘Nasrin’ profiles a courageous fight for human rights in Iran
December 2020

December 2020

The documentary “Nasrin” is an intimate profile of Iranian attorney and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh. Allowed surprising access to Sotudeh’s life, the film achieves stirring results if not an always fluid narrative.

The 57-year-old Sotoudeh began her career working in a bank and doing journalism on the side, which is how she met her husband, Reza Khandan, a graphic designer. Inspired by an interview with noted human rights lawyer and later Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, Sotoudeh earned a license to practice law, specializing in protecting children’s rights, including high-profile cases of prisoners sentenced to death for alleged crimes committed as minors. Continue Here


'Nasrin' Documentary Is a Profile in Courage for the 21st Century
December 2020

December 2020

Nasrin Sotoudeh, the subject of Nasrin the compelling new documentary by Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross, may be the bravest person you never met. She is a lawyer for women's rights and human rights in Iran, a country that does not seem to value either very much. To be more accurate: The government is intent on suppressing the rights of dissidents in general and women in particular. As seen throughout the film, the people of Iran are among the most welcoming and friendly in the world.

Sotoudeh is her country's Nelson Mandela: a courageous fighter for the rights of the underserved. She usually stays just within the law, but she is ready to go to prison, and in fact at this writing she is in prison—and has been several times. But she persists. She does not always wear a hijab, the head covering scarf that women in Iran must wear in public. What to some Western eyes, would seem to be a relatively innocuous act, it a very big deal in this repressive state, an act of defiance that is almost unheard of. Continue Here


Documentary ‘Nasrin’ Secretly Filmed In Iran To Highlight Iranian Human Rights Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh
December 2020

December 2020

The inspiring documentary Nasrin tells the story of human rights lawyer, activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh through interviews, B-Roll, incredibly powerful archival footage and the personal writings of Sotoudeh and her husband, fellow-activist Reza Khandan. The American screenwriter, director and producer Jeff Kaufman and his co-producer, Marcia S. Ross, were unable to get visas to travel to Iran themselves. They relied on their on-the-ground film crew as well as calls with Sotoudeh and Khandan. The film took four years to make and is essential viewing. Everyone involved, including Sotoudeh, put themselves in jeopardy by agreeing to participate in the project, but clearly, for them, the importance of its message outweighed the risk of arrest. The project also had to forego crowdfunding or fundraising of any kind in order to keep the film secret and protect those involved. Continue Here


Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iran’s Courtroom Gladiator, for the Defense
December 2020

December 2020

The film and television industry is nothing if not image-conscious, so it speaks volumes that the camera crews who shot footage inside Iran for Nasrin are, by design, uncredited. This is being done to keep them out of prison, which is where its protagonist, Nasrin Sotoudeh, now resides. Sotoudeh, this documentary’s embattled titular character, received the esteemed Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2012 and on December 3 was just awarded, in absentia, the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.” The crusading Iranian human rights attorney was charged with collusion, disseminating propaganda, and insulting the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Continue Here



A very good year for documentaries, if an annus horribilis otherwise
December 2020

December 2020

Nasrin With the execution in Iran this month of the journalist Ruhollah Zam for the crime of telling the truth, Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross’s rousing, enraging portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a defiant defense lawyer, could not be timelier. Shot in secret over four years by anonymous Iranian filmmakers, the film follows Sotoudeh as she takes on cases including that of a minor sentenced to death and women protesting the law requiring them to wear the hijab. Then Sotoudeh herself is convicted of bogus charges, in 2018, and sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. In November, she contracted COVID-19 and was briefly released from prison only to be incarcerated again, though still suffering from the disease. Continue Here


New Documentary Shines a Light on Iranian Human Rights Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh
December 2020

December 2020

A new documentary by filmmakers Jeff Kaufman and Marcia S. Ross provides a firsthand look into the life of Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of Iran’s leading human rights activists and lawyers. Nasrin, which will be released in the United States on December 18, comes as Sotoudeh, who was briefly released from prison earlier this fall because of coronavirus-related health concerns, was ordered to return to prison to continue serving her 38-year prison sentence on December 2. The 57-year-old was sentenced based on charges of collusion, spreading propaganda, and insulting Iran’s supreme leader.

A recipient of the Sakharov Prize, which is given each year by the European Parliament to global human rights advocates, Sotoudeh has devoted her career to defending children, religious minorities, and women who challenge oppressive laws. The filmmakers hope that the discourse around the film will help increase international outrage about Sotoudeh’s prison sentence and “be part of this global effort demanding her release,” Ross told The FBomb. Continue Here


NASRIN – Review by Loren King
December 2020

December 2020

This urgent documentary offers an up-close look at Iranian human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh who for nearly 20 years, at great personal risk, has fought for the rights of women, children, LGBTQ people and political prisoners condemned to death by the Iranian government. For anyone not familiar with this ordinary yet extraordinary figure, Nasrin will be an eye-opening and life-changing experience. The film will be available in virtual theaters across the United States and Canada on December 18. Nasrin is directed by Jeff Kaufman and produced by Marcia S. Ross, whose last film was the engaging documentary Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life, about the prolific playwright. Since Kaufman was prohibited from entering Iran, a team of anonymous cinematographers undertook the risk of filming Nasrin at home, at work in her law office, talking with clients and protesting in the streets. The film follows her arrest in June 2018 for representing women who protested Iran’s mandatory hijab law and her sentencing to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes. Continue Here


NASRIN documentary filmmakers Jeff Kaufman & Marcia Ross | Brave New Hollywood Interview 
December 2020

December 2020

Director Jeff Kaufman and Producer, Marcia S. Ross discuss the making of the Nasrin Sotoudeh documentary film, NASRIN in secrecy and while their lead subject (Sotoudeh) kept fighting for the rights of her clients inside Iran and went to Iran's notorious Evin prison fighting for the rights of women, minorities and others.

Watch Here


Nasrin Documentary Director: "So Many Like Her are at Risk"
November 2020

November 2020

Last month a feature-length documentary, Nasrin, was released that covers life and struggles of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the world-renowned Iranian human rights lawyer imprisoned in Iran for her defense of civilian activists.

For the next ten days, in partnership with the creators, IranWire has made the English-language film available online to Persian-speaking audiences outside of North America. To mark the release, we spoke to director Jeff Kaufman about the process of making the film and what he hopes it will achieve – and to Nasrin’s husband Reza Khandan, who was recently reunited with his wife during her temporary release from prison.

Continue Here


Yes, Virginia, there are movies this holiday season. Here’s where to find them
November 2020

November 2020

Nasrin
Documentary on human rights activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh. Directed by Jeff Kaufman. Narrated by Olivia Coleman. Virtual cinemas. Virgil Films

Continue Here


“Nasrin” Premiere on BBC Persia Interview
November 2020

November 2020

مارسیا راس، تهیه کننده و جف کافمن، تهیه کننده و کارگردان فیلم «نسرین» از این فیلم مستند می‌گویند که در مورد نسرین ستوده، وکیل و فعال حقوق بشر ساخته‌اند. این فیلم قرار است فردا، هشت و نیم شب به وقت تهران از بی بی سی فارسی پخش شود.

Marcia Ross, producer and Jeff Kaufman, producer and director of "Nasrin", say the documentary is about Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist. The film is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC Farsi.

Watch Here


France 24 English Interview with the NASRIN Filmmakers 
November 2020

November 2020

A conversation with the makers of #Nasrin, a film that gives a voice to one of #Iran’s most revered women’s rights defenders on this week’s @MEastMatters w/ @SanamF2. Sotoudeh, an honorary citizen of #Paris, was finally given furlough to receive medical treatment. @Anne_Hidalgo

Watch Here


Nasrin' Documentary Spotlights Life And Work Of Jailed Iranian Human Rights Lawyer
October 2020

October 2020

After a five-week hunger strike, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iran's best-known human rights lawyer, faces a grave health crisis in Qarchak prison, a notoriously harsh facility south of Tehran.

For more than two decades, Sotoudeh, 57, fought for some of Iran's most sensitive causes — the rights of women, children on death row, endangered minorities. She has won international acclaim, but her defiance has come at a heavy personal price: She is serving a 38-year prison sentence for "national security" crimes, after defending women who protested Iran's compulsory head-covering law.

"She is the closest thing that Iran has to Nelson Mandela, someone who has remained steadfastly committed to her principles at enormous sacrifice to herself," says Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. "One of the reasons that the Islamic Republic fears her so much is the fact that she is truly irrepressible." Continue Here


Unseen Films Review from Globe Docs
October 2020

October 2020

Portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh an Iranian attorney who has been fighting for human rights, women's right, ad children's right for years despite she keeps getting thrown in jail for bucking the system. NASRIN is deeply moving look at one woman who who striving to help the downtrodden people of Iran. Always willing to fight she is always trying to balance her numerous cases with raising her family. She is in many ways the better self we should all aspire to be. What I love about the film is it is something more than just a portrait of Nasrin but there things as well. For example the film shows us this split in Iranian society with the ruling religious zealots at the top controlling everything and the rest of the people. Continue Here


نسرین ستوده؛ الگویی جهانی برای دفاع بی‌قید و شرط از حقوق بشر

October 2020

October 2020


نسرین ستوده، وکیل مدافع حقوق بشر و زندانی سیاسی، در حال راه رفتن در خیابان‌های تهران، به دوردست نگاه می‌کند و خطاب به فیلم‌بردار می‌گوید شاید این تلاش‌ها، در کوتاه‌مدت نتیجه‌بخش نباشد، اما همه سرمایه‌ای انسانی است برای آینده، برای فرداها؛ و آرام و با طمأنینه به راه رفتن در خیابان‌های خاکستری تهران ادامه می‌دهد. این صحنه‌ی پایانی مستند «نسرین» است. مستندی کم‌نظیر درباره‌ی نسرین ستوده که یکی از شناخته‌شده‌ترین چهره‌های مدافع حقوق بشر در ایران است. جف کافمن، کارگردان، طراح، نویسنده و تهیه‌کننده‌ی آمریکایی این مستند را کارگردانی کرده است و مارشیا راس تهیه‌کنندگی این مستند را برعهده دارد. مستندی که در جشنواره‌ی فیلم‌های مستند «گلوب داک» آمریکا در ماه اکتبر ۲۰۲۰، برای اولین‌بار اکران شد.

در این مستند، گروه فیلم‌برداری که نام آن‌ها برای حفظ امنیت‌‌شان فاش نمی‌شود، روزها و هفته‌ها نسرین ستوده را در زندگی روزمره‌اش دنبال کرده و از او فیلم می‌گیرند. ستوده را در دفتر کارش و گفتگو با موکلان‌ و مهمان‌اش می‌بینیم، او را در حال آشپزی در خانه‌اش می‌بینیم، پشت فرمان اتوموبیل‌اش، در راه دادگاه انقلاب برای دفاع از موکلی، در حال خرید هدیه برای بچه‌های دوستان‌اش، وقتی منتظر سرویس مدرسه‌ی پسرش نیما ایستاده، وقتی میوه‌ها را در ظرف مرتب می‌چیند، در نمایشگاه نقاشی، در اجرای تئاتر و … تصویرهایی به‌غایت روزمره و انسانی از زنی که سال‌هاست برای حقوق انسان‌ها می‌جنگد.

Continue Here/در اینجا ادامه دهید

Click Here for the English Translation


Voices of the Middle East and North Africa: The Toxic Legacy of War in Iraq; the documentary film on Nasrin Sotoudeh
October 2020

October 2020

This week, we are having a conversation with Kali Rubaii, an assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, about the toxic legacy of the war in Iraq and the underlying reasons for the high rates of birth defects in the city of Fallujah. we are also speaking with documentary filmmaker Jeff Kaufman about his latest film, titled “Nasrin”, which chronicles the life and work of Jailed prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Listen Here


New doc features the life of Iran's leading human rights lawyer
October 2020

October 2020

For more than two decades, Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has fought for the rights of women, children and minorities in her country.

Her work has won her international acclaim but also the wrath of the Iranian government. She has been arrested several times and is currently serving a 38-year sentence in prison. Her family has been detained and harassed as well.

This month, a new documentary called “Nasrin” takes viewers inside the life of Sotoudeh.

Hadi Ghaemi, founder and director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, describes Sotoudeh as “a child of the Iranian Revolution.” Born in 1963 in Langarud, Iran, Sotoudeh experienced the 1979 Revolution and its aftermath during her formative years, Ghaemi said. Sotoudeh was a bank employee before she became a journalist and later, decided to study law and become a lawyer. As part of her work, she provided pro bono services to minorities and prisoners of conscience. Continue Here


Iran’s Covid-19 Death Toll Is Rising. Show Mercy, Mr. Trump.
October 2020

October 2020

Many more political prisoners in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison remain incarcerated and at risk. Their plight has been highlighted by the recent hunger strike of the Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who refused food for nearly a month to demand the compassionate release of scores of her fellow human rights advocates and political dissidents. Ms. Sotoudeh, who is guilty of nothing more than defending a group of women who took off their head scarves in public to protest the law mandating head coverings, was sentenced to what would add up to a 38-year prison term. Continue Here


A Conversation with the Director and Producers of the New Documentary, “Nasrin"
October 2020

October 2020


Nasrin a new documentary scheduled for its world premiere on October 1, 2020, tells the important and fascinating story of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the imprisoned human rights lawyer who has endured years behind bars for defending basic civil and political rights in Iran. The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) recently spoke with Jeff Kaufman, director, producer and writer of Nasrin, and Marcia Ross, producer of the film. Following are extended excerpts from the conversion CHRI had with Jeff and Marcia.

CHRI: The Center for Human Rights in Iran is pleased to welcome Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross. Jeff is director, producer and writer for the new documentary Nasrin and Marcia Ross is producer of the film, which tells the story of the Iranian human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh. Nasrin is currently behind bars at Iran’s Evin Prison, sentenced to 38 years’ imprisonment for her peaceful work as a human rights attorney—12 years of which she must serve before becoming eligible for parole. Among her charges were “encouraging prostitution” for advocating against compulsory hijab and defending citizens’ rights to peaceful dissent. Germany’s largest professional association of judges and public prosecutors recently awarded Sotoudeh its human rights prize, calling her a “symbol of the Iranian civil rights movement” and she was also the recipient of the 2012 European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought for her human rights work. Nasrin has been called “the Nelson Mandela of Iran.” Welcome Jeff and Marcia, we are so pleased to talk with you about this wonderful and important documentary that you’ve made, Nasrin.
Continue Here


“Nasrin”: Speaking to the World From a Prison in Iran
October 2020

October 2020

On September 26, 2016, Farhang Amiri—a 63-year-old Baha’i man who was much loved in his community of Yazd, Iran—was found stabbed to death outside his home. Two brothers confessed to the murder, citing that they killed Amiri because he was an “apostate,” and they had been taught that killing apostates would send them to heaven. After their confession of murder, the brothers were arrested—but released two months later. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights attorney in Iran, took up Amiri’s case on behalf of his family. A new feature documentary “Nasrin” has a remarkable scene that shows Sotoudeh speaking to the killers’ father. “How do you think Mr. Amiri’s family felt after his murder?,” she asks with cool calculation, “Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.”

Two years later, Sotoudeh herself was once again arrested and sentenced to 38 years and 148 lashes. Her crime? Defending the rights of women and those most marginalized under the harsh laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s penal code. “Nasrin” will premiere at The Boston Globe’s film festival GlobeDocs in the first week of October, followed by dozens of screenings around the world. Continue Here


Olivia Colman-Narrated Documentary About Iranian Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh Acquired By Virgil Films
September 2020

September 2020

EXCLUSIVE: Virgil Films & Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Nasrin, a documentary about activist Nasrin Sotoudeh narrated by Oscar winner Olivia Colman. Sotoudeh is a human rights activists and an outspoken leader of Iran’s women’s rights movement. Last week, she cited serious health concerns in ending a six-week hunger strike in Evin Prison, where she has been serving a nearly four-decade sentence. Millions of people from around the world have called for her release.  Secretly filmed in Iran by men and women who asked that they not be identified due to the high level of risk involved, Nasrin is directed, produced, written by Jeff Kaufman and produced by Marcia S. Ross. The pair earned Emmy nominations for Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life. The film features an original song by Tony-winning composers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, performed by Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo. Washington Post columnist and former political prisoner Jason Rezaian serves as one of the film’s executive producers. Nasrin features filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, journalist Ann Curry, and Nasrin’s husband and fellow-activist Reza Khandan. Continue Here