“Happiness” series, on Arte: an Iranian woman in exile, between humor, tenderness and seriousness

In 2021, Iranian director Pouria Takavar accompanied 17-year-old Shadi (“happiness” in Persian) in search of his father on a funny journey through rural Iran. The fifteen short episodes of Happiness, broadcast on arte.tv and on Instagram (to be visible to the Iranian public), formed a mosaic of snapshots of a country torn between aspirations of freedom and conservative traditions. Here is Shadi, back five years later, in a second season where the young girl’s life has completely changed. Following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the arrest of her best friend Férial, Shadi went into exile in France, far from her family.

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