TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- Leading actress of “At Five in the Afternoon,” directed by the Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf, said on Tuesday that her country’s women had hopes for future.

“The conditions of Afghan women have changed a lot after the ouster of the Taleban when it was a crime to be a woman,” said Agheleh Rezaie in an interview conducted at the office of Kabul Film, in Kabul.

“False beliefs didn’t allow the Afghan men to count on women and to remember the bravery of afghan heroines in freedom and construction of Afghanistan, so I searched for a foreign pattern in ‘At Five’,” added Rezaie.

The flick depicts the time when the Taleban regime collapsed and the schools open their doors again to girls. Nogreh (Agheleh Rezaie) wants to become head of state (following Benazir Bhutto's example), in order to reform the status of the Afghan woman. However, the girl and her family only meet misery and desolation in a country in ruins.

Despite her daring role in the film, Rezaie is shy. “I had never experienced movie career before. When I was in front of camera for the first time I was very nervous; I was afraid of making problems for the other credits of the film. I used to think that starring was a complex job,” she said.

“I was very interested in cinema reading film magazines. I was familiar with the cinema through watching movies in TV, but when I was introduced to Samira, she picked me up for her film after a test,” she added.

“The film was produced about one year ago, there was any person to reproach me for this job during the time; I have been constantly praised,” said Rezaie about her satisfaction on the role she starred. She added, “Makhmalbaf gave me a free hand so I was allowed to express my own words out of the screenplay.”

“My family warmly welcomed the suggestion, but I was afraid of an amateur-like starring for the film. In fact my brother and family encouraged me,” she said about her family’s opinion on her starring in a film.

She is a married with three sons named Fahim, Samim, and Tamim. Her study was unaccomplished in the Kabul University when the Taleban had domination over Afghanistan.

“The Taleban regime had a taboo on studying in schools and universities for girls and women. I secretly taught a number of girls, but I could not continue the work ever more,” Rezaie said.

“The film which was awarded Cannes Jury Prize 2003, posed the name of an Afghan woman in the world; this a great honor for me,” said Rezaie when she was asked how much the film has promoted the image of Afghan women in the world. MMS/IS END MNA