{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Be Like Others | image = Be Like Others Amazon Prime US cover.png | alt = | caption = Cover of Amazon Prime US release | director = Tanaz Eshaghian | producer = Tanaz Eshaghian<br />Christoph Jorg<ref name="SD">{{cite web | last = Brunette | first = Peter | title = Be Like Others | publisher = Screen Daily | date = 11 February 2008 | url = http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=37242 | accessdate =1 March 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080310043552/http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=37242| archive-date= 10 March 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> | writer = Tanaz Eshaghian | narrator = | starring = | music = Henning Lohner | cinematography = Amir Hosseini<ref name="SD" /> | editing = Jay Freund<ref>{{Cite news | title = Be Like Others Production Credits | url = https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/452017/Be-Like-Others/credits | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080309211940/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/452017/Be-Like-Others/credits | url-status = dead | archive-date = 9 March 2008 | department = Movies & TV Dept. | work = The New York Times | date = 2008 | accessdate=1 March 2008}}</ref> | distributor = The Film Collaborative | released = {{Film date|2008|01|19|Sundance Film Festival|df=y}} | runtime = 74 minutes | country = Canada, United Kingdom, United States, France | language = Persian | budget = | gross = }} '''''Be Like Others: The Story of Transgendered Young Women Living in Iran''''' (also known as '''''Transsexual in Iran''''') is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about trans people in Iran.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-08-29|title=Events on Long Island|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/31listingsli.html|access-date=2022-02-23|issn=0362-4331|quote=“Be Like Others: The Story of Transgendered Young Women Living in Iran,” by Tanaz Eshaghian}}</ref> It explores issues of gender and sexual identity while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran gender reassignment clinic. The film played at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, winning three awards.
==Overview== <!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|alt=A closeup photo of a transsexual woman's face. She is wearing make-up. She looks off-camera to the left and is smiling.|Screenshot of Anoosh/Anahita{{ffdc|1=BeLikeOthers.jpg|log=2022 February 9}} --> Although homosexual relationships are illegal (punishable by death) in Iran, sex reassignment operations are permitted. In 1987, Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini passed a fatwa allowing sex-change operations as a cure for "diagnosed transsexuals".<ref name="BBC">{{cite news | last = Barford | first = Vanessa | title = Iran's 'diagnosed transsexuals' |publisher=BBC | date = 25 February 2008 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7259057.stm | access-date =1 March 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080229004936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7259057.stm| archive-date= 29 February 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> ''Be Like Others'' shows the experiences of male and female patients at Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali's Mirdamad Surgical Centre, a sex-reassignment clinic in Tehran.<ref name="JRF">{{cite journal | last = Blizek | first = William L. | author2 = Ruby Ramji | title = Report from Sundance 2008: Religion in Independent Film | journal = Journal of Religion and Film | volume = 12 | issue = 1 | date = April 2008 | url = http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol12no1/sundance_2008.htm#be | accessdate = 1 March 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080210040115/http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol12no1/sundance_2008.htm#be | archive-date = 10 February 2008 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref> One of them is Ali Askar, a 24-year-old man who faces harassment from other men due to his feminine appearance and behaviour. He does not want to become a woman but sees no other options for him in Iranian society. He decides to go ahead with the surgery despite death threats from his father and finds support from Vida, a post-operative transsexual he meets at the clinic. By the end of the film, Ali has become a woman named Negar. She has been disowned by her family, experienced depression and has had to work as a prostitute. Twenty-year-old Anoosh is another young man who has been ostracised due to his femininity. His boyfriend feels more comfortable when Anoosh dresses as a woman, and in contrast to Ali, Anoosh's mother is supportive of his desire to change sex. The end of the film shows Anoosh – now Anahita – happy and engaged to her boyfriend. However, her boyfriend has become increasingly distant since Anahita had her surgery.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="Var">{{Cite news | last = Koehler | first = Robert | title = Be Like Others | work = Variety | date = 31 January 2008 | url =https://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2478&reviewid=VE1117936019 | accessdate=1 March 2008 }}</ref>
Throughout the film, the patients of the sex-reassignment clinic assert that they are not homosexual, seeing homosexuality as something that is shameful and immoral.<ref name="NYM" /> Eshaghian's opinion is that this shame is the driving force behind so many Iranians deciding to change their sex. She says that identifying as transsexual rather than homosexual allows them to live free from harassment.<ref name="BBC" /> The film follows the lives of individuals undergoing this procedure and gives viewers a look into what life is like afterwards.<ref name="BBC" />
==Production== Eshaghian, an Iranian American film-maker, got the idea for ''Be Like Others'' after reading a 2004 article in ''The New York Times'' about sex-change operations happening in Iran and being surprised that such an operation would be acceptable in a Muslim country.<ref name="dfg">{{cite web |title=Interview with Tanaz Eshaghian |publisher=The British Documentary Website |date=15 December 2007 |url=http://www.dfgdocs.com/Resources/Articles/102.aspx |accessdate=5 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502040735/http://www.dfgdocs.com/Resources/Articles/102.aspx |archive-date=2 May 2008 }}</ref> She wrote a proposal for a film and tried to find funding, but was unsuccessful.<ref name="dfg" /> She contacted a British journalist who had written on the subject and he gave her telephone numbers for Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali and the Muslim cleric featured in the film.<ref name="FC">{{cite web | title = Be Like Others – Sundance Film Festival | publisher = FilmCatcher.com | url = http://www.filmcatcher.com/festivals/Sundance_Film_Festival/day_1/65/ | accessdate =5 March 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080309214821/http://www.filmcatcher.com/festivals/Sundance_Film_Festival/day_1/65/ <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 9 March 2008}}</ref> To find subjects, she visited the predominant sex-reassignment clinic in Iran, and spent time in the waiting-room talking to patients and their families.<ref name="NYM">{{cite web | last = Ellison | first = Jesse | title = 'Be Like Others' Director Tanaz Eshaghian on Sundance, Sex Changes, and the Ayatollah | work = New York | date = 24 January 2008 | url = https://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/01/be_like_others_director_tanaz.html | accessdate =1 March 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080316062740/http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/01/be_like_others_director_tanaz.html| archive-date= 16 March 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> She found that female-to-male transsexuals were generally very successful in living as their new gender and as a result were reluctant to take part in the documentary for fear of being "outed" as transsexual.<ref name="JRF" /> She felt that the contrasting stories of Ali and Anoosh highlighted the importance of family bonds in Iranian society.<ref name="Reeler">{{cite web | title = Tanaz Eshaghian, Be Like Others | work = The Reeler | date = 20 January 2008 | url = http://www.thereeler.com/sundance_features/tanaz_eshaghian_be_like_others.php | accessdate = 1 March 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080216061122/http://www.thereeler.com/sundance_features/tanaz_eshaghian_be_like_others.php | archive-date = 16 February 2008 | url-status = dead }}</ref> At a question and answer session at the Sundance Film Festival, Eshaghian said that one of the men she met while filming decided to live as a gay man rather than become a woman, and that she is now trying to help him leave Iran.<ref>{{cite web | last = Ferber | first = Lawrence | title = Sundance Gay Film Dispatch 3: Homos Away from Home, Craig Lucas, and shoes | publisher = AfterElton.com | date = 28 January 2008 | url = http://www.afterelton.com/taxonomy/term/2441 | accessdate =1 March 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080212130334/http://www.afterelton.com/taxonomy/term/2441| archive-date= 12 February 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>
==Distribution and reception== In 2008, ''Be Like Others'' was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and the Berlin International Film Festival where it won three Teddy Awards, the Amnesty International Film Prize – Special Mention, Reader Jury of the ''Siegessäule'' and the Jury Award.<ref>{{cite web | last = Levy | first = Emanuel | author-link = Emanuel Levy | title = Berlin Film Fest 2008: Complete List of Winners in All Sections | year = 2008 | url = http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=8872 | accessdate = 1 March 2008}}</ref> The film was shown on BBC television as ''Transsexual in Iran'' in February 2008.<ref name="BBC" /> It screened at the Seattle International Film Festival in June 2008.<ref>{{cite web | title = Films & Events – Be Like Others | publisher = Seattle International Film Festival | url = http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=27270&FID=64 | accessdate = 17 May 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509130130/http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=27270&FID=64 | archive-date = 9 May 2008 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Writing for ''Variety'', Robert Koehler called ''Be Like Others'' "a powerful window into a once-hidden side of the country" and "a model of non-dogmatic filmmaking on a highly charged topic."<ref name="Var" />
In 2010, ''Be Like Others'' was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Documentary" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards – English Language Nominees |publisher=Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation |year=2010 | url=http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/21/nominees |accessdate=21 February 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100130031953/http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/21/nominees| archive-date= 30 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> In 2012, the film screened at the Noor Iranian Film Festival and won Best Documentary.
==See also== {{Portal bar|Iran|LGBTQ|Film|United States|United Kingdom}} *LGBT rights in Iran *Transgender rights in Iran * List of LGBT films directed by women
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/be-like-others/index.html}} *[https://pbsinternational.org/programs/be-like-others-transsexuals-in-iran/ PBS International] *[https://itvs.org/films/be-like-others ''Be Like Others''] at ITVS *{{IMDb title|1157609}}
{{Inside Out Best Canadian Film}}
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Category:2008 documentary films Category:2008 LGBTQ-related films Category:2008 films Category:American LGBTQ-related documentary films Category:British LGBTQ-related documentary films Category:Canadian LGBTQ-related documentary films Category:Documentary films about Iran Category:Iranian LGBTQ-related films Category:Transgender-related documentary films Category:LGBTQ rights in Iran Category:2008 Persian-language films Category:Films about transgender women Category:Films scored by Henning Lohner Category:Documentary films about prostitution Category:2008 American films Category:2008 Canadian films Category:2008 British films Category:2008 Iranian films