There’s been a lull of sorts lately in the media’s coverage of Iran, but don’t be fooled—the upheaval and unrest continues.  Mir Hossein Mousavi is planning to establish a new reformist party before the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August, Iran announced earlier the execution of 13 Sunni Militants, and an AP report published today examines the unknown death toll from the violent clashes. Dozens or possibly hundreds of people “simply went off the radar screen,” says a human rights organization official.

One question continues to beg an answer: Why did this struggle find such resonance with the Western youth? I’ve been posing the question to many friends in an attempt to understand the initial outpour of support for the dissidents at odds with the theocratic regime. One of the suggestions floated is that their cultural values, empathies, and experiences are much more similar to ours than one may think. Many of these cultural similarities—and differences—have been captured in cinema. So in honor of those in fighting for their rights in Iran (and elsewhere, for that matter) we give you eight must-see films on Iran. Actually, for the first five, you have to read our film columnist Gina Telaroli’s post from July 2008. But to keep it fresh, here are three more films about Iran made by Iranian filmmakers that have made a splash this year. Impressive, all.

The Queen and I showed at Sundance this year and recently aired on HBO. From the distributor’s website: “When Nahid Persson Sarvestani, an Iranian exile, set out to make a documentary about Farrah, the wife of the shah of Iran, she expected to encounter her opposite. As a teenager, she joined the Communist faction of Khomeini’s revolution that deposed the shah, sending him and his family volleying from country to country. When Khomeini betrayed his promise for democracy, imposing more violent measures than the shah had, Persson Sarvestani was also forced to flee. Thirty years later, she needs key questions answered and goes directly to the source. Surprisingly, Queen Farrah welcomes her as a fellow refugee from their beloved homeland, granting unprecedented access. Over the next year and a half, Persson Sarvestani enters the queen’s world, planning to challenge the shah’s ideology; instead, she must rethink her own.”

Be Like Others is another Sundance alum, this one also recently aired on HBO. From the film’s website: “In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with strict social mores and traditional values, sex-change operations are legal. Over twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious edict) making sex change permissible for “diagnosed transsexuals.” Yet homosexuality is still punishable by death. With Iran’s international arms negotiations dominating news headlines worldwide, a very private kind of drama is unfolding behind the scenes. Highly feminine and attracted to members of the same sex, yet forced to live in secret for fear of retribution, a generation of young Iranian men are adopting an identity legally allowed to them—transsexual.”

The Stoning of Soraya M recently played at the Los Angeles Film Festival and premiered in Toronto. I gave it my own critical treatment a few weeks back, and I’m still recommending it to friends. Caroline posted her interview with Director Cyrus Nowrasteh here. Based on a true story, the film focuses on a French-Iranian journalist traveling through Iran who encounters the tale of Soraya Marnò, a woman wrongfully accused of adultery and put to death by stoning in her small, mountainous village by decree of Sharia law.