Negar Yaghmaian
Iran No Filter #04

  • France
  • fa
  • en
  • 4'
Negar Yaghmaian | Iran No Filter #04

Synopsis

Smartphones and social networks have given rise to a new generation of photographers in Iran, who are showing us a daily life that is usually inaccessible to outsiders. Ten of them tell us about the young people they immortalise and to whom they belong. Young people trying to find their place in a paradoxical society, between coercive tradition and liberating Western influence.

Based on her own experience, Negar Yaghmaian decided to document the daily lives of Iranian women who have chosen to live alone in a country where single women are perceived as immoral. She talks to us about this series in this new episode.

What you will find in this film

Iranian society in the throes of change • Iranian youth seen from the inside • a new generation in search of independence • the power of social networks • Western culture as an outlet

For this series, I really wanted us to see their faces. They show that they take responsibility for their choice, by looking straight at the camera. If people can recognise them, they don't mind.
The new generation, especially the girls, have a more open outlook on life. We all have one thing in common, which has nothing to do with our beliefs or our origins, it's our desire to fight against the norms of our society.

Documentaries about photography, and about the people who make it. 
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What you’ll find

Portraits of photographers, names everyone knows and others you’ll discover here. Films about street photography, war, fashion or portraiture, about printing and historical processes. About the trades of photography too. And then suggestions for going further, with Focuses, articles, interviews, bibliographies.

A small independent team

Documentaries about photography were rarely shown on television, and hardly at all on streaming platforms. We created The Darkroom Rumour to give them a place of their own. We are a small team, and we choose every film ourselves, with no school to defend.

Inspire your photography

In these films, you see photographers at work, in the field as well as in the darkroom. If you take pictures, you’ll often come away with an idea to try. If you simply like looking at images, you may start to see them differently.

How it works 

You can watch the films online, anywhere in the world, on a computer, tablet or phone, and on TV by mirroring your phone’s or computer’s screen. Every film is available in French and English, with no ads. New releases come out on Saturday or Sunday. The trial lasts 7 days, and if you stop before day 8, you pay nothing.

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Further exploration

Selected bibliography

• Ghazal Golshiri and Marie Sumalla, Tu ne meurs pas, GwinZegal, 2023. Publisher · Libraries

• Mahnaz Shirali, Fenêtre sur l'Iran : le cri d'un peuple bâillonné, Éditions les Pérégrines, 2021. Libraries

• Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh, Espace vital : femmes photographes iraniennes, Textuel, 2023. Libraries

• Anahita Ghabaian and Newsha Tavakolian, Iran, année 38 : la photographie contemporaine iranienne depuis la révolution de 1979, Textuel, 2017. Publisher · Libraries

• Anahita Ghabaian and Minou Saberi, 12 Photographic Journeys: Iran in the 21st Century, I.B. Tauris, 2005.

• Marjane Satrapi (ed.), Woman, Life, Freedom, Seven Stories Press, 2024. Publisher · Libraries

Online

• Comment la révolution iranienne est née sur les réseaux sociaux, Marine Protais, L'ADN, 2022 (in French).

• Social Media in Iran's Protests: A New Public Sphere?, Mehdi Khalaji, The Washington Institute, 2022.

• 5 Photographers Show What It's Like to Be a Young Iranian Today, Jacqui Palumbo, Artsy, 2019.

• « Pour la jeune génération en Iran, la photo est une soupape », Julien Bordier, L'Obs, 2023 (in French, paid access).

• Dans l'objectif de Forough Alaei, une jeunesse iranienne en liberté surveillée, Claire Guillot, Le Monde, 2022 (in French, paid access).