Tahmineh Milāni ( fa, تهمینه میلانی) is an Iranian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

activist, and film director and producer.

Early career

She was born 1960 in

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

, Iran. After graduating in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

from the University of Science and Technology in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

in 1986, she apprenticed as a script girl and an assistant director following a screen workshop in 1979.

Directing career

Milani's directing career has produced award-winning films, such as ''

Two Women ''Two Women'' ( it, La ciociara , rough literal translation "The Woman from Ciociaria") is a 1960 war drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica from a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini and De Sica, based on the novel of the same name by Alberto Mo ...

'', The 5th Reaction, and The Unwanted Woman. Her films often focus on cultural or social issues, including

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and the 1979

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. Milani states that one of the most important issues in Iran is the inability to express one's true personality, claiming that Iranian men and women lead double lives. Her early films resembled

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

s, such as her 1990 offering ''Efsanye-e Ah'' (''The Legend of a Sigh'') which featured a character who, after failing as an author, befriends her sigh of despair. The sigh goes on to teach her of women with much larger problems in the world, yet still remain happy. Two years later, in ''Dige Che Khabar'' (''What Did You Do Again?''), Milani told the story of a young girl with the power to change her family simply by talking to herself. Iranian censors fought against the film, instructing her to replace the female lead with a young boy instead. Hard-line conservatives accused Milani of encouraging women to revolt against the current system. She deflected the criticisms, insisting that the men were merely scared of seeing their own wives riot because of her films. In her later films, Milani adopted a more

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exce ...

tic style and focused more on

gender issues Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

and her female characters became the subject of intense oppression and discrimination. The government charged Milani as an anti-revolutionary due to the storyline of her 2001 anti-revolutionary film ''Nimeh-e Pinhan'' (''The Hidden Half''), which revolved around a leftist university student against the regime of Shah Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi. The film's primary love story also drew criticism, for its depiction of the main character's relationship with an elderly man. Despite receiving permission to produce the film from the reformist

Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...

government, she was imprisoned in 2001. A backlash from many world-famous

directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

including

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

and

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

caused the government to release her after two weeks, but official charges were never dropped.

Milani's 2005 film ''Unwanted Woman'' tells the story of a woman forced to cover up a journey with her friend because of a law that bans travel for unmarried couples. ''Vakonesh Panjom'' (''The Fifth Reaction'') is the story of a woman who leaves her wealth, home, and children after the death of her husband. ''The Fifth Reaction'', released in 2003, is Tahmineh Milani's seventh movie regarding women's social position and rights in a

patriarchal society Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...

. For example, in ''Vakonesh Panjom'' (''The Fifth Reaction''), Milani addresses the problems of

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

and injustice, and mainly law's ignoring women's rights in child custody case, to awaken women and to inspire them to fight for their rights. While often exaggerated for cinema-goers, the films' topics draw clear parallels to life in a theocratic Iran. In 2007, Milani announced that she was going to make an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

-focused TV series for the

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; fa, صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی ايران, ''Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān'', , formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian rev ...

with the title ''The Positive Pals Club ''. Her film ''Yeki Az Mā Do Nafar (One of Our Two)'' screened in Iranian halls in 2011. She wrote and directed the film ''Principles'', which was criticized as stilted and preachy. In 2016, Milani presented an exhibition of photography at the Ariana Gallery in Tehran."Filmmaker Tahmineh Milani tries her hand at photography"
''Tehran Times'' Sharareh Samei

Accusations of plagiarism

In September 2018, following an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

of Milani's paintings at an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in Tehran, accusations emerged on social media accusing Milani of

plagiarizing Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

Russian

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

Jenny Meilihove. In response, Milani offered an apology stating: "I'm so sorry and I will withdraw the painting from the showcase and compensate for the loss. The image of a postcard I had received in the past recorded on my unconscious and the result was the painting" and added that all the money raised by the exhibit will go to charity. Additionally, Milani filed a lawsuit against the art gallery over early closure of her exhibition and "against those people who brought chaos to the exhibition". In 2019, while organizing an exhibition of her paintings at Ariana Gallery, a major art center in Tehran, Miliani was again accused of plagiarizing four different artists, including Matteo Arfanotti, Sara Riches, Richard Burlet and Masumeh Mehdizadeh. The Supervisory Council for Gallery Activities issued an official warning to the gallery, and stated "Ariana Gallery has not properly observed professional regulations in ascertaining the authenticity and quality of the artworks". The council remarked that an investigation into the accusations of plagiarism will proceed if a lawsuit is filed against Milani. In response, Milani published a post on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

stating "In this way, I draw inspiration from everything and everyone." In June 2019, Mahyar Bahram Asl, an Iranian graduate student and painter, was sentenced to 35 lashings under the charge of insulting Milani by accusing her of plagiarism.

Personal life

She is married to Iranian actor and producer Mohammad Nikbin.

Filmography

Awards And Nominations

References

External links

*
Tahmineh Milāni official website
(Persian & English) * Interview with Tahmineh Milani, 6 August 2007 on bebin.tv :* :* * Interview on IRIB, uploaded 20 June 2008 on Revver :
Tahmineh Milani criticizes New Woman Parks (6 min 40 sec)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milani, Tahmineh Iranian women film directors Iranian film directors Iranian women's rights activists Living people People from Tabriz Iran University of Science and Technology alumni Crystal Simorgh for Best Screenplay winners Year of birth missing (living people)