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NOBEL LEGACY FILM SERIES

A FILM BY DAWN ENGLE AND IVAN SUVANJIEFFPRESS KIT

SHIRIN EBADI: Until we are free

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ABOUT SHIRIN EBADI

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003 to Shirin Ebadi for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.

As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders. She has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threats to her own safety.

Her principal arena is the struggle for basic human rights, and no society deserves to be labelled civilized unless the rights of women and children are respected. In an era of violence, she has consistently supported non-violence. It is fundamental to her view that the supreme political power in a community must be built on democratic elections. She favours enlightenment and dialogue as the best path to changing attitudes and resolving conflict.

Ebadi is a conscious Moslem. She sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights. It is important to her that the dialogue between the different cultures and religions of the world should take as its point of departure their shared values. It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to a woman who is part of the Moslem world, and of whom that world can be proud along with all who fight for human rights wherever they live.

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SYNOPSIS

“Human rights are a universal standard. They are a component of every religion and every civilization.”

The first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi has inspired millions around the globe through her work as a human rights lawyer defending women and children against a brutal regime in Iran. Now the film, “Until We Are Free”, tells her story of courage and defiance in the face of a government out to destroy her, her family, and her mission: to bring justice to the people and the country she loves. Best known in this country as the lawyer working tirelessly on behalf of Canadian photojournalist, Zara Kazemi- raped, tortured and murdered in Iran- the film, “Until We Are Free”, tells of the struggle of one woman against the system. It is a gripping story. For years the Islamic Republic tried to intimidate Ebadi, but after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power in 2005, the censorship and persecution intensified. The government wiretapped Ebadi’s phones, bugged her law firm, sent spies to follow her, harassed her colleagues, detained her daughter, and arrested her sister on trumped-up charges. It shut down her lectures, fired up mobs to attack her home, seized her offices, and nailed a death threat to her front door. Despite finding herself living under circumstances reminiscent of a spy novel, nothing could keep Ebadi from speaking out and standing up for human dignity. The Iranian government would end up taking everything from Shirin Ebadi- her marriage, her home, her legal career, even her Nobel Prize- but the one thing it could never steal was her spirit to fight for justice and a better future. This is the amazing, at times harrowing, simply astonishing story of a woman who would never give up, no matter the risks.

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BUDGET

Story development & ScriptDirectorDirector of photographyproducerscasttotal above the line

Grip/set operationscameraproduction soundtransportationlocation & office expenseproduction film & labstock footagetotal production

editing staffmusicpost soundpost film & labtitles, optical, & digital fxother deliverablesother post coststotal post-production

publicity & marketinglegal & accountinginsurancegeneral expensetotal other

total above-the-linetotal below-the-linegrand total

raised to dateremaining funds to raise

$80,000$50,000$40,000$45,000$40,000

$255,000

$25,000$40,000$40,000$20,000$20,000$40,000$60,000

$245,000

$75,000$20,000$40,000$40,000$20,000$20,000$10,000

$225,000

$150,000$40,000$35,000$15,000

$240,000

$255,000$710,000

$965,000

$700,000$265,000