Inside Out

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Inside Out

A Film by Zohreh Shayesteh

film still Maria is a middle-aged single woman with three children. Saman is a newly married young man. Arash is an eighteen-year-old high-school dropout. The one thing they have in common is that all three are transsexuals living in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

INSIDE OUT features intimate conversations with Maria (a male-to-female transsexual), Saman (female-to-male) and Arash (female-to-male), allowing them to tell their stories, including the lifelong struggle to come to terms with their gender dysphoria, how this mind/body conflict has affected their everyday behavior, and the impact of hormone therapy and sex-change surgery on their lives.

The film also includes revealing interviews with a Muslim cleric, who explains that the majority of Iran's religious leaders consider transsexuality to be a human rights issue and therefore support gender reassignment surgery; a psychiatrist, who explains the difference between homosexuality and transsexuality and how the condition cannot be cured psychologically; and a surgeon, who discusses the nature and the difficulties of the required surgery.

INSIDE OUT also documents daily activities of the three individuals, showing how they are coming to terms with their new identities and the related emotional and physical transformations. These difficulties clearly pale compared to their former agony. As Maria, a 44-year-old father and former truck driver, states, "Only a person who has felt this pain can understand it." Thanks to this sensitive and insightful documentary, however, the rest of us can begin to understand the nature of this serious but still little-understood condition.

"Will amaze and delight... a warm and personal portrait. [It] flies in the face of stereotypical views of Iranian religious and social attitudes and will serve to humanize Iranian society for many Western viewers. Fascinating!"—Professor William O. Beeman, Brown University, Author of The Great Satan vs. The Mad Mullahs: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other

"This fascinating documentary sheds light on the perplexing lives of the little known Iranian transsexuals whose plight is ironically overshadowed by the larger issue of widespread human rights abuse in Iran. The fact that even apparently sympathetic experts Shayesteh interviews define trans-sexuality as either a psychiatric disorder or some form of gender and identity crisis rather than a personal choice is emblematic of the outcaste status of the people too often viewed as gender freaks in their society. To [its] credit, [the film] focuses more on the shared humanity of the characters and handles a taboo subject with sensitivity and sympathy. The sense of entrapment permeating the film is especially poignant. More than souls trapped in unwanted bodies, we see individuals who are prisoners of their intolerant social and cultural environment."—Professor of Film Jamsheed Akrami, William Patterson University

** 2006 Tribeca International Film Festival

39 minutes / color / 2006
Sale/video-dvd: $298
Rental/video: $75

In theaters now!

Subject areas: Adolescence, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Family Relations, Gender Studies, Human Sexuality, Iran, Islam, Middle East, Psychology, Religion, Sex & Sexuality, Sociology, Women's Studies

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Last updated 11/06/2006