The star of Persian cinema and dancer in Tehran´s bars now lives on the streets with nothing but her memories to cling on to. She craves to perform her famous show of the bearded women and men in frocks once more, but Tehran is in turmoil, its inhabitants hoping for a new age.

Ayat Najafi drew his inspiration from the story of Sharzad, the most famous singer and dancer in Iran in the 1960s. Their search for scattered stories about this fictitious star led Najafi and his group deeply into the underground, a maze of cellars and corridors above which Tehran is built. Images from the past shimmer through the imagination of Lady Tehran and are lost in the modern city.

Iranian director Ayat Najafi also dealt with the topic of women in his film documentary “Football under cover”. The state´s attempt to determine female behaviour here seems absurd and very funny. “Tehran Banou” looks at the more individual consequences of enforcing gender in such a way. (TAZ 16.9.2009)