Iran’s acclaimed movie industry is the latest sector to suffer the effects of economic sanctions over the country’s uranium enrichment program.

But as filmmakers warn that they might pause production due to lagging funds, two controversial new releases are breathing life into the domestic cinema scene.

At the close of a year in which increased ticket prices caused a 40 percent drop in cinema attendance, the movies “Facing Mirrors” and “I Am a Mother” are driving a spike in box office sales. Their provocative protagonists – a transsexual in the first and nouveau riche characters who drink alcohol and adopt other taboo behaviors in the second – are causing a wider debate on cinema in the Islamic republic.

“I Am a Mother” has caused particular uproar, prompting protests by conservative religious groups and an attempted ban by Iran’s Academy of Arts, a division of the Islamic Development Organization, which owns more than one-third of Iranian movie theaters.

Last month, the film broke Tehran’s single day ticket-sale record, which was previously held by “A Separation.” Currently it is No. 1 at Iranian box offices, and “Facing Mirrors” is fourth.

“I Am a Mother” tells the story of a young woman who kills a family friend after he rapes her. The rapist’s family calls for the woman’s execution under an Islamic law known as Qisas, which allows for the heirs of a murdered person to decide the fate of a convicted murderer. “Facing Mirrors” follows a female-to-male transsexual who is picked up by a female taxi driver who is trying to earn money to pay for her husband’s release from debtors’ prison. Adineh, the transsexual, has run away from home because her father has arranged a marriage for her, believing the will solve the family’s “curse.”

Source: SF-Gate