By John Corrado
The 2026 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 23rd to May 3rd in Toronto
When Mahsa Amini was arrested by the morality police in Iran for violating the country’s mandatory hijab laws, and later died in custody, her death sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement when activists would risk and in some cases even give their lives by showing their hair in protest. It became a powerful symbol of the fight for gender equality under Iran’s theocratic regime.
Director Raha Shirazi looks at the history of women’s rights in Iran in her documentary A War on Women. Shirazi’s film traces things back to pre-revolution Iran in the 1960s, when women were free, before the fall of the Shah and the rise of the Ayatollah in 1979. When Khomeini took power, Islamic law was enforced, and women were effectively silenced in the country through things like mandatory face coverings.
The documentary mainly focuses on three prominent subjects; Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who gained international attention when she got cast by Ridley Scott in Body of Lies, Mahnaz Afkhami, who is the former Minister of Women’s Affairs, and notable activist Masih Alinejad. These women are all compelling advocates for the fight against gender apartheid in their home country, and the need for Western feminists to join in this fight. Among the themes discussed is how the headscarf can become a symbol of defiance when taken off and being waved around like a flag.
Shirazi’s film, of course, is arriving at a time when Iran is now even more in the spotlight than it even was when these interviews were filmed (the chants of “death to Khomeini” we hear in the film now ring different after he was successfully eliminated), and it exists to shed important context on the necessity of supporting freedom for Iran. It’s an engaging film that reminds us what is at stake, and the weight of the history behind it, when anti-regime protestors call to “Free Iran.”
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