The May Lady
The May Lady
Color, 84 min., 1998, Iran

Synopsis

“The May Lady” portrays the struggles of a 42-year-old divorcee who’s caught between motherhood and womanhood in a society where moral values are constantly changing.

Forugh Kia is a documentary filmmaker and a well-educated, middle-class woman who’s reached a dilemma in both her personal and professional life. She’s set aside her own projects in order to make a TV documentary about the Iranian representation of motherhood and women’s role in society. Meanwhile, she tries to seek balance between her son’s possessive tendencies and personal challenges in her life.


Cast & Crew

  • Director & Screenwriter :Rakhshan Banietemad
  • Director of Photography :Hossein Jafarian
  • Production Designer :Amir Esbati
  • Sound Mixer& Recordist :Parviz Abnar
  • Make-up Designer :Mehri Shirazi
  • Production Manager :Jahangir Kosari
  • Editors :Mostafa Kherghehpoosh, Masumeh Shah Nazari
  • Producer: :Jahangir Kosari, Alireza Raisian
  • Cast :Golab Adineh, Minoo Farshchi, Mani Kasraian, Baran Kosari, Atefeh Razavi
The May Lady

Festivals

  • Fajr Int’l FF (1998/ Iran)- Special Jury Award
  • The 22nd Montreal World Film Festival (27 Aug- 7 Sep.1998/ Canada)- Special Mention of FIPRESCI Jury
  • The 3rd Pusan International Film Festival (24 Sep- 1 Oct 1998/ South Korea)
  • The 17th Vancouver International Film Festival (25 Sep- 11 Oct 1998/ Canada)
  • The 9th Festival of Iranian Films at the Chicago Film Center (3 Oct- 1 Nov 1998/ USA)
  • The 11th Iranian Film Festival of Paris (7- 28 Oct1998/ France)
  • Iranian Film Festival at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (13 Nov- 3 Dec 1998/New York, USA)
  • The 5th Iranian Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (14 & 15 Nov 1998/ USA)
  • The 22nd Cairo International Film Festival (25 Nov- 8 Dec1998/ Egypt)
  • Prince Claus Award for Rakhshan Banietemad, (16 December/ 1998, The Netherlands)
  • The 28th International Film Festival Rotterdam (27 Jan-7 Feb1999/ The Netherlands)
  • The 4th Women in Cinema Festival (29 Jan-4 Feb 1999/ Seattle, USA)
  • The 22nd Goteborg International Film Festival (29 Jan- 7 Feb1999/ Sweden)
  • The 5th Bradford International Film Festival(5-20 March 1999/ UK)
  • The 17th Asian-American Film Festival (11-18 March 1999/ San Francisco, USA)
  • The Seminar of Iranian Art & Culture (2-11 April 1999/ the London Islamic Centre/ UK)
  • The 18th Istanbul International Film Festival (17 April- 2 May 1999/ Turkey)
  • The 16th Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (17-30 April 1999/ USA)
  • The 12th Toronto Independent Film & Video Images (18-20 April 1999/ Canada)
  • The 13th Washington DC International Film Festival (21 April- 2 May 1999/ USA)
  • Festival of Iranian Films (June 2- July 30 1999/ the BFI, UK)
  • The 11th Galway International Film Festival (6-11 July, 1999/ Ireland)
  • The Festival of Films from the South (17-26 September 1999/ Denmark)
  • The 9th Festival of Films from the South (1-10 October 1999/ Oslo, Norway)
  • The 26th Gent International Film Festival (5-16 October 1999/ Belgium)
  • The 3rd bATik Film Festival (5-13 November 1999/ Perugia, Italy)
  • The 13th Braunschweig International Film Festival (9-14 November 1999/ Germany)
  • The 10th Cinequest International Film Festival (24 February- 5 March 2000/ San Jose, USA)
  • Festival of Iranian Films (24-31 March 2000/ Skopje, Macedonia)
  • Iranian Cinema: A Dream without Awakening (13-26 April 2000/ Lincoln, Nebraska, USA)
  • Carnegie Art Museum (21-22 April 2000/ USA)
  • The 3rd Ankara Flying Broom International Women Film Festival (4-11 May 2000/ Turkey)
  • Screening at the Sunnyvale (11 June 2000/ California, USA)
  • The 22nd Festival of Woman & Cinema (3-9 October  2000/ Florence, Italy)-Peace & Freedom Prize of Tuscany Governor
  • Iranian Art Festival at the Berlin House of World Cultures (24-29 October  2000/ Germany)
  • The 4th Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival (3-10 December 2000/ Estonia )
  • Festival of Iranian Films at Barbican Centre (4-10 May 2001/ London, UK)
  • Screening at the Slovenian Cinematheque (17-20 October 2001/ Slovenia)
  • The 4th Mumbai International Film Festival (21-28 November 2001/ India)
  • Women: Heart of Iranian Cinema at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, (12-26 September 2002/ UK)
  • Screening at the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (23 September 2002/ New York, USA)
  • Festival of Iranian Films at Rice University (24 January- 2 February 2003/ USA)
  • The 14th Rennes International Film Festival (7-16 February 2003/ France)
  • The 10th Iranian Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts (14 November- 14 December 2003/ Boston, USA)- The 4th Ilex Foundation Award for Rakhshan Banietemad
  • Festival of Iranian Films ( 22 November- 21 December 2003/ Washington DC, USA)
  • MESA Film Festival (29 February- 11 March 2004/ Arizona, USA)
  • The 2nd Bangladesh Film Festival (1-9 December 2004/ Bangladesh)
  • Screening at the University of Warvick (7 March, 2005/ UK)
  • Screening at the University of California (13-20 April 2006/ USA)
  • A Tribute to Rakhshan Banietemad at the University of London’s SOAS (7-30 April, 2008/ UK)
  • Iranian Cinema: Gender, Nation and Narration, College of London (11 February- 6 March 2009/ UK)
  • Screening at the Harvard University (23-26 April 2010/ USA)
  • A Tribute to Rakhshan Banietemad at Cinema Arsenal (6-24 May 2016/ Berlin, Germany)
  • Iranian Women Filmmakers, Maxxi Museum of Rome (23-25 June 2018/ Italy)
  • 10 Days of Iranian Cinema, Berliner Festspiele (12-21 June 2020/ Germany)
The May Lady
The May Lady
The May Lady

Photos

Rakhshan Banietemad

DIRECTOR’S Statement