Born in Evin

BORN IN EVIN tells the story of director and actress Maryam Zaree, who sets out to investigate the violent circumstances of her birth in one of the world's most notorious political prisons in the world. Exactly forty years ago, the Shah was overthrown and with him the Iranian monarchy. After seizing power, Ayatollah Khomeini, the new religious leader, had tens of thousands of political opponents arrested and murdered. Among the prisoners were the filmmaker's parents, who survived years of prison and subsequently managed to flee and seek asylum in Germany. Within the family, it was never possible to talk about the persecution and the prison. Maryam Zaree breaks decades of silence when she starts to explore the circumstances of her birth. She meets other survivors, talks to experts, and searches for children who were born in the same prison as she was. In doing so, she is looking for answers to her personal and political questions. What are the personal consequences of persecution and violence, when the same perpetrators are still in power today and the victims keep their story to themselves? And what does it mean politically to break the silence within the family? Maryam Zaree is convinced that private matters are political and the political matters are private.