The Woman Wanted By Iran – A film by Itay Anghel |
Directed by Itay Anghel (2026)
Itay Anghel’s 60 minute documentary is a bravely filmed comment on the resistance of bands of Kurdish women to the misogynist theocrats of the Iranian regime.
Having set out towards the end of 2025 to make a film about the Druze, circumstances saw the filmmaker thrust into the crucible of the Kurdish guerilla fighters seeking to topple Khameini’s government from within, where he was able to capture vivid moments of history in the making.
Anghel’s craft is remarkable. A journalist who has earned the trust of his sources, he was granted remarkable access deep into the mountain tunnel hideouts of the PJAK fighters where he spoke with their leader, Paiman, his interviewing technique capturing her selfless commitment and defiance in the face of Iran’s Islamist leadership. A momentary comment from Anghel as he walked for hours through the tunnel complex that had been carved into the rock, revealed his sensitivity as an Israeli at being so deep into a tunnel network, a reference to the horrors of the Hamas terror tunnels underneath Gaza.
Anghel’s recording of this impassioned resistance is remarkable. But war is a bloody, messy business, frequently riddled with unpalatable compromises. Anghel may have strived to deliver a balanced perspective on these remarkable fighters, whose knowing observation is that the Kurds’ “only true friends are the mountains” . That his documentary however occasionally strays into moments of partisan commentary on Israel’s government is the evening’s only disappointment.
Otherwise this is fine and noble reportage.