Our Purpose:
Finding Bibi is a film about identity and understanding, irreverence and purposeful rebellion. Driven by that spirit, we launched the Finding Bibi organization, which strives to bridge the gap between east and west by sharing the compelling stories of women – some empowered, others seeking empowerment – from both hemispheres. Our goals are:
1) To create programs that empower women from both “east” and “west” to speak for themselves, free of intimidation, discrimination, and violence.
2) To expand opportunities for meaningful cross-cultural dialog between “east” and “west” so that individuals can discover and participate in causes of common interest.
3) To expand the number of individuals who consider themselves “socially active” by engaging them through humor, fashion, film, and pop culture.
While the issues are serious, our approach to them does not use cynicism or guilt. Instead, we make these topics accessible by embracing humor and pop culture as vehicles of change.
Note: The views expressed on FindingBibi.com do not necessarily reflect the views of the religious, ethnic, or other communities to which each blogger or writer may belong.
Our Film:
Bita Haidarian, an award-winning Iranian American filmmaker fresh out of film school, sets off on a journey around the world to answer the big questions – who am I, where do I come from, and where can a girl find a good laser hair removalist?
Born in America to Baha’i refugee parents from Iran, Bita tells the tragic-comic story of her family coming to America, her childhood in Texas, trying to fit in, and competitive cheerleading – all part of the quest of a girl who knows more about MTV than Al Jazeera.
Bita brings us from ‘Tehrangeles’ where Iranian girls get their noses re-shaped in posh Beverly Hills offices, to the garment district of LA where she cut her teeth in the fashion industry, to high society London where veiled women take lessons on how to secure a husband. Where princes and emirs mix with lords and ladies, Bita will take us into lesser-known corners of women and the Middle Eastern world.
Finding Bibi smashes worldwide stereotypes about women in the Middle East and is simultaneously a clarion call for the emancipation of women around the world.
And Bita’s plea to public – please watch my film! If it doesn’t succeed, I’m going to have to get married.
Discuss 
