The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place, especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on. The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the margins by attending a one-of-kind rehabilitation center in uptown Tehran. Forget about the Iran that you’ve seen before. With a virtually invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories: Samira struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music. This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage girls.
A production of Fictionville Studio, in association with the Sundance Channel
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Filmmakers Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard have created three documentaries on video: BREAKING BREAD (2000), SIR ALFRED OF CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT (2001) and SHAHRBANOO (2002). In 2003, they co-founded a non-profit organization – ARTEEAST - its mission statement to promote the arts and cultures of the Middle East and it’s worldwide diasporas in the United States. In 2005, Hamid Rahmanian made his directorial début with the narrative feature DAY BREAK (Dame Sohb), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win several awards at festivals around the world. THE GLASS HOUSE is their latest narrative documentary, which will premiere in the Fall 2008.
