Sometimes you have to shake your head over what passes for mainstream entertainment reporting.

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly features an in-depth piece on Arab-Americans in Hollywood. ‘Don’t Tell Anyone Your Real Name, or You’ll Never Work Again’ recalls the hardships several Arab-American actors have faced since 9/11.

Their tales of woe are likely genuine. Minorities typically struggle in the entertainment business, from a dearth of positions behind the camera to a paucity of meaty roles in front of it.

But the magazine’s take on the issue borders on the surreal. It also ignores the elephant on the movie set.

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It has been over a year since the Iranian elections were held and a beautiful young woman was killed on that nation’s streets while protesting the election results. Since those public demonstrations, the same brutal Iranian regime remains in power. In recent weeks, another young Iranian woman has received international attention for her treatment by the government of Iran. Sakineh Mohammedie Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery, a sentence that was later halted. However, her execution could still take place, a tragic possibility that should remind people of the brutality of the current Iranian regime.  

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After learning of Ashtiani’s sentence, I re-watched the recent HBO documentary “For Neda” (which you can watch in the above clip) and was reminded that although it is not in the news that much anymore, we should not forget the plight of the people in Iran and their continued thirst for a better life for themselves.

Shohreh Aghdashloo (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”) narrated the film about the life of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was killed during an Iranian protest. “For Neda” begins with footage of Neda’s death. The devastating footage shows the young woman on the streets of Iran breathing her last after being shot. That footage earned the attention of millions who watched Neda’s last moments. Neda’s murder showed how cruel the Iranian regime could be and her death became a symbol of the fight for freedom in Iran. (more…)

While audiences in America flock to the escapist eye candy known as Avatar, it’s sobering to realize that in the real world, far away from James Cameron’s utopian dreamscape and the cozy cocoons of our multiplex theaters, another film’s message of defiance is helping to fuel revolution against a repressive regime.

The Stoning of Soraya M., from writer-director Cyrus Nowrasteh and Mpower Pictures, tells the true story of a woman in a remote Iranian village in the wake of the fundamentalist revolution of 1979, who is falsely accused of adultery and then stoned to death by a mob desperate to cleanse themselves of this rumored affront to their collective honor and to their religion. It’s not only a gripping story in its own right, but it also focuses a harsh spotlight on the shocking reality that stoning still exists in the Iranian penal code. The movie has been reviewed and written about many times on Big Hollywood, as well as listed among the site’s 10 best movies of 2009. (Look for it on DVD from Lion’s Gate in March) (more…)

“Accompanied by thousands of women” is what Shohreh Aghdashloo told her friends about how she felt attending the Academy Awards in 2004 as the first Iranian nominated for an acting award for her performance in “House of Sand and Fog”. Since that nomination, Aghdashloo has appeared in numerous television shows and in many movies, including her newest film, “The Stoning of Soraya M.” 

Several weeks ago, I wrote an article for “Big Hollywood” about the importance of that new film and Aghdashloo’s work as an actress who speaks up for voiceless women. As a follow-up to that article, I had the opportunity to conduct a phone interview with the Oscar nominee who, one day before I spoke to her, was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in the miniseries “House of Saddam.” During the interview, Ms. Aghdashloo spoke about the current situation in Iran, her work in the film “The Stoning of Soraya M.”, and what attracts her to certain projects. (more…)

A Boston.com article from early 2004 profiled the Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. In that article she was quoted as saying the following: “It really disturbs me,” she [Aghdashloo] says, “when I see a voiceless woman, a voiceless human being who’s been abused or molested, and can do nothing about it. It kills me.” That article was about Aghdashloo’s career and her performance in the film, “House of Sand and Fog” and the article noted that her character from that fictional film was “a voiceless woman” who had Aghdashloo to speak for her in the movie. Another voiceless woman whose story Aghdashloo is trying to tell us is that of Soraya M., the lead character in the new film “The Stoning of Soraya M.”  

“The Stoning of Soraya M,” which I had the opportunity to view several weeks ago, is a great film about a difficult subject. The movie tells the story of Soraya M., an Iranian woman accused of betraying her husband and the brutal consequences of that invalid accusation. In the film, Aghdashloo plays an Iranian talking to a reporter about what happened to her niece Soraya only a few hours before the journalist arrived in town. According to the film’s website, the movie  is “inspired by Paris-based journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s acclaimed international best-seller of the same name which, rife with intrigue and moral outrage, first brought global attention to the real Soraya, who in 1986 was buried to her waist in her hometown square and stoned by her fellow villagers.” (more…)

While Iranian-American protesters packed streetcorners in Westwood last Saturday afternoon in support of the revolution currently playing out in the streets of Tehran, an historical drama about stoning in Iran got underway at the Los Angeles Film Festival mere blocks away.

For the few who don’t know by now, The Stoning of Soraya M. is based on French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s bestselling book, which relates the true story of a woman in a remote Iranian village, in the years after the 1979 Khomeini revolution, who is falsely accused of adultery and stoned to death by a mob desperate to cleanse themselves of this affront to their collective honor and to their religion. It’s not only a gripping story in its own right, but it shines a harsh spotlight on the almost unimaginable reality that the barbaric punishment of stoning still exists in the Iranian law code, despite a largely nominal 2002 moratorium, the result of pressure from Western human rights groups.

(Full disclosure, even though I’m not reviewing the film here: I’m close friends with the filmmakers Cyrus and Betsy Nowrasteh, I provided Mpower Pictures with a bit of research on the project, I’m friends with other cast and crew and producers associated with the film, and I think stoning is bad. So don’t take my word for it when I say Soraya will be the most important, affecting film you’ll see all year. Instead seek out the multitude of reviewers who recommend the film, including Big Hollywood’s John Nolte and then see it for yourself.)

Following Saturday’s screening was a panel discussion, not so much moderated as simply hosted by Iranian novelist Khaled Hosseini, author of the bestselling The Kite Runner, who personally selected the film for the L.A. Film Festival. The panel also included Soraya’s writer-director Cyrus Nowrasteh, starring actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dr. Reza Aslan, billed as an Islamic scholar. (more…)

The biggest narrative challenge facing the “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is in the overcoming of its own title. With the awful outcome inevitable, co-writer/director Cyrus Nowrasteh is forced to hold our attention through means other than a curiosity over how things will end. Replacing this with a gut-wrenching dread awaiting the final act won’t suffice — not for two hours, anyway. This leaves a single, narrow and challenging avenue; the summoning of a rare kind of storytelling invention, the kind where the audience knows full well what’s coming but still hopes against hope some cinematic magic will occur to alter the unalterable.

In an impressive feat of direction Nowrasteh accomplishes this, making “Soraya” much more than a film of the political moment or a position paper on the Middle East. In a current events’ vacuum, maybe even set on another planet, the story would work without the benefit of allegory. This is a universal, human story, after all, but not the story of a victim, but of a woman’s remarkable courage and determination to free the truth.  This woman is Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo), and yesterday her niece Soraya M. (Mozhan Marnò), was buried alive up to her chest and stoned to death. (more…)

Cyrus Nowrasteh’s “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is a grim and solemn duty.  This is no popcorn flick, to be viewed and forgotten.  It stays with you, like your conscience telling you to do the right thing, the difficult thing.  

Set in 1986 Iran – the Islamic Republic of Iran – Stoning is a gut-wrenching film with haunting music.  Nowrasteh’s movie, set to open June 26, is based on a book about the crime by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam. 

The film opens with Freidoune (James Caviezel) breaking down in his car on his way to the border.  Spending unwanted hours in a small village, he is approached by Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo), a woman the villagers try to shoo away as they call her crazy.  But Zahra has a terrible secret.  She does all she can to get word to the journalist about a terrible injustice committed in the village the previous day when her niece, Soraya M. (Mozhan Marnò), falsely accused of adultery by her cheating husband, Ali (Navid Negahban), was stoned to death per Islamic law.  (more…)

Directed and co-written by Cyrus Nowrasteh, “The Stoning of Soraya M.“ is based on Freidoune Sahebjam’s novel and stars Jim Caviezel and Shohreh Aghdashloo. According to a press release, it opens June 26th “in New York, Los Angeles and other key markets, with a national roll out to follow.”

More information is available at the official website.