A Review of the Story of Gordafarid

In the documentary called The Story of Gordafarid (2008), director Hadi Afarideh focuses on an Iranian tradition named Naqqali in a way that concerns women’s place in Iranian society.

Naqqali is a traditional solo theatre in which performers entertain an audience with background music and a script coming from Shahnameh, Ferdowsi’s famous epic. Historically, women were not allowed to perform this play due to Iran’s conservative society, and Naqqali was traditionally performed only by men. However, the documentary deals with an exception: the very first female Naqqal in Persian history, Fatemeh Habibizad, also known as Gordafarid. The Story of Gordafarid narrates Habizad’s experiences as Gordafarid challenges the patriarchal “nature” of the society and repeats the significance of Shahnameh for Iranian identity.

What Does the Documentary Tell About?

The documentary mainly concerns Fatemeh Habibizad’s effort to perform Naqqali as a woman in a very patriarchal, conservative society by criticising women’s restricted lives in Iran. She is interested in…