In the days leading up to Iran’s 2001 elections, Bani-Etemad was struck by the passion of her daughter and her generation for Mohammed Khatami, the candidate who seemed to promise genuine reform. Bani-Etemad returned to documentary to portray the aspirations of the Iranian youth, contrasting their optimism with the struggle of a female candidate not only to run for the presidency but also to find an apartment for herself, her mother and her daughter, as a single mother.

A loose follow-up to Our Times, Bani-Etemad’s documentary short was made during the months before last year’s controversial elections in Iran. Filming a diverse coalition of women’s rights activists discussing their opinions on pressing contemporary issues, Bani-Etemad asked three of the four presidential candidates to view the footage for comment, with Mahmoud Ahmedinejad declining to participate. A number of the activists seen in the film were later arrested in the post-election protests.