Final Moments Synopsis
This groundbreaking documentary short shares proof, provided by more than 200 victims and witnesses, of the sexual torture of virgin girls prior to their execution at the hands of Islamic Republic prison authorities since 1979. This film was made in conjunction with Justice for Iran.
Final Moments was an official selection of the 2014 WVN Online Film Festival and was awarded in the Documentary Shorts category.
About the Filmmaker
Shadi Amin (شادی امین) is an Iranian feminist, writer and activist. When she was only 14 years old, she protested against Khomeini’s rule in 1979. She was forced to flee to Pakistan in 1983 and later settled in exile in Frankfurt, Germany. As a member of the Berlin Exiled Women of Iran Against Fundamentalism (BEWIAF), she organized a controversial protest against the conservative backlash occurring in Iran during 2000.
Shadi published Gender X, which features her research on gender discrimination, systematic oppression against women and the state of lesbian and transgender people in Iran. She published the English version as Diagnosing Identities, Wounding Bodies with Raha Bahreini. She is a founding member of the Iranian Women’s Network Association (SHABAKEH) and as a coordinator for the Iranian Lesbian Network (6Rang), she comments on United Nations recommendations for human rights in Iran. She is also a co-founder of the organization Justice for Iran.
Amin won the 2009 Hammed Shahidian Critical Feminist Paper Award jointly with Golrokh Jahangiri. Amin used her award to research political prisoners in Iran in the 1980s and study the rape and sexual abuse that occurred. She presented her findings in Toronto in 2011. She co-wrote Crime and Impunity: Sexual Torture of Women in Islamic Prisons (2012) with Shadi Sadr on the sexual abuses in prison during the 1980s.
Prior to leaving Iran, Amin hid her sexuality in public. In 2013, she participated in Turkey’s Gay Pride. In 2014, she participated in a panel with 6Rang at Istanbul Pride, where she discussed forced sex changes that occur in Iran. She is quoted by The Guardian as saying, “In a democratic society, a sex-change operation is an option of transsexuals, but in Iran it’s an obligation for their survival.” She has translated Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde writings for Ghodrat va Lezzat (Power and Joy), which is one of the few Farsi resources on heteronormativity and lesbian existence. Amin also contributed research and literature review for Patholigizing Identities, Paralyzing Bodies: Human rights Violations Against Gay Lesbian and Transgender People in Iran (2014).
Shadi Amin has also worked on the following films: The Beijing Conference and Exiled Women (1995), Exiled Opposition and the Berlin Conference (2000) and The Endless Nights of Female Prisoners (2012).
About the Collaborator
Justice for Iran (JFI) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit human rights organization. It aims to give a voice to the voiceless.
The mission of JFI (est. 2010) is to address and eradicate the practice of impunity that empowers officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran to perpetrate widespread human right violations against their citizens, and to hold them accountable for their actions. JFI unravels the truth and seeks justice for ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTs, women, and those who are persecuted because of their political beliefs.
To achieve its mission, JFI researches, documents, validates, and litigates individual cases. It further raises public awareness and participates in human rights advocacy through the UN and the EU.
