
Nation of Exiles
Iran's disputed presidential election in June 2009 sends more than a million people into the streets of Tehran, and this film follows the protest movement that forms in response, known as the Green Movement. It traces the movement's roots through the social and political grievances that had been building before the vote, then follows the demonstrations as they spread and the government's response hardens against them. The film's central interest is technology: how protesters used mobile phones, social media, and other digital platforms to organize marches, document the crackdown, and get footage out of the country once foreign press access was restricted. That footage, along with firsthand accounts from people who took part, forms the backbone of the film. The story is framed as one of the earlier tests of whether digital tools could sustain a mass protest movement against a government willing to shut down the internet and arrest organizers, a question later raised again during the Arab Spring.