Daughters of the Sun

In her début film about the bitter fate of Iranian women in the countryside, Shahriar takes a brave look at a controversial subject. Until recently, Iranian actors were strictly forbidden to dress as the other sex and women still have to keep their hair covered. In Daughters of the Sun however, we see a girl who dresses as a boy, obviously without a headscarf and, furthermore, another girl falls in love with her.Locks of Amangol’s beautiful long black hair fall to the ground and are blown away by the wind. Her father shaves her head so she looks like a boy. As the eldest of six daughters in a poor peasant family, Amangol is sent to a remote village, where she can work as a carpet weaver. Dressed in boy’s clothes, `Aman’ eats, sleeps and works in the small workshop. She has to weave until she falls exhausted to the floor and is locked up at night by the cruel carpet seller. However she does her very best, because she thinks that her wages are being sent to her family. Amangol remains a solitary figure, no one must find out she is a girl. However she has to work harder and harder and is punished severely, making it more and more difficult for her to maintain her role as a boy. When another girl from the workshop falls in love with her, the situation becomes increasingly difficult.At the Film Festival in Montréal Daughters of the Sun won the prize for the best début film.