DW DocumentaryLeyla loves her daughter Nila more than anything. But there’s a problem: according to Iranian law, Nila does not exist. Because she is an illegitimate child, she has no papers or rights. Mother and daughter must fight the absurd rules of a disingenuous regime.
But the resourceful duo refuse to give up. They hope to become part of Iranian society and save Nila from a life in hiding. “Nila’s Dream in the Garden of Eden” accompanies Leyla in her struggle to achieve recognition of her daughter Nila’s identity. Until then, she cannot obtain papers, go to school or receive medical care. The doors of Iranian society are closed to her.
Leyla and Nila desperately try to escape this cycle and free themselves from life in the shadows. They fight against bureaucratic hurdles and the opaque rules of an arbitrary state that is blind to the fate of a child. Despite everything, they manage to remain optimistic – they paint, sing, dance and fantasize about great journeys, a jet-set life of luxury and a miraculous twist of fate. They are a living example of how dreams and hopes can defy even the bleakest circumstances.
Film director Niloufar Taghizadeh knows Leyla from her school days. Years later, she learns of Leyla’s story, and a fate shaped by an absurd loophole in Iranian law. Driven by the desire to change the lives of the two, as well as that of many other undocumented children in Iran, she embarks on a risky journey to make this film. For almost three years, she accompanies the pair and films, partly undercover, in Iranian government offices and behind closed doors with decision-makers in the system to tell a story that, officially at least, doesn’t exist.
