THE RECESS is now touring film festivals worldwide.
With the 2020 Euros now in full swing, and all the furor as the English finally beat the Germans in a knockout football match for the first time since 1966, it's hard to image the real life tragedy that inspired Navid Nikkhah Azad's THE RECESS.
Who was Sahar Khodayari?
Sahar Khodayari also known as 'Blue Girl' was an Iranian fan of Esteghlal F.C.
In March 2019, she attempted to enter Azadi Stadium disguised as a man to watch a match played by the team, against the national ban on women at such events. On 2 September the same year, she was told by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran that she may face a six-month prison sentence. After leaving court, she committed suicide by self-immolation in front of the building. She died a week later of her injuries. Khodayari's self-immolation has generated much debate in Iran about the government's restrictions on women.
Every year hundreds of young girls, wearing beard and makeup, try to enter Iran’s football stadiums...
Every year hundreds of young girls, wearing a beard and makeup, try to enter Iran’s football stadiums with difficulty. A number of them are arrested by the national security force and are sentenced to harsh and severe punishments.
In Navid Nikkhah Azad's THE RECESS, the story focuses on Sahar (Mojan Kordi), a 17-year-old
Iranian Schoolgirl, who is plotting with the help of her class mates to attend a big football match. Only too aware of the harsh penalties if Sahar is caught, the girls bravely plan the operation with nervous precision. From the clothes she's to wear, the journey to get to the ground and the place where she can get changed.
As Sahar leaves the school yard and fades into the distance, you are left with a feeling of tragedy and injustice, but above all what a brave and courageous woman the real Sahar Khodayari was!
Navid Nikkhah Azad comments on the film:
As tragic and heart-breaking is the self-immolation and the death of Sahar Khodayari, her departure serves as deep sorrow which penetrates into our hearts and starts living inside our soul.
As part of a society, and above all as a human, I can’t stop thinking about the dimensions of this very tragedy, be it social or spiritual or else, it deeply affects our lives down to every core and cell. However, I’d like to think of Blue Girl as an individual soul, with a deep character within.
What made me think of it as a subject for a movie, and a serious concern as a filmmaker, was that the truth about Sahar Khodayari, her life story, who she was, and what he did, was majorly disrupted by the government and the media. She was made a person with no “past”.
So I decided to make this film about Blue Girl to give her a “past” she deserved and “truth” to who she was and what she did.
