The Story…

Logline: In a world divided by sectors based on gender; a brave young woman must decide if she will conform to her country’s regime or stand up and fight for freedom for herself and other women alike.

Synopsis: In the distant future In a society with five sectors ranking from poorest to metropolis, a family's honor is tied to the amount of male offspring they can produce for their country. The lower ranking sectors face daily struggles of starvation. In Patrida Chora, women are stripped of every basic human right.  All girls at the age of nine are forced into the ceremony of placement, which determines which sector they will live and work until chosen for marriage. 

Honey by a Thread follows a brave young woman named Emine, who is taught at an early age how to read and write, illegally by her father. At Emine’s ceremony of placement she is chosen for a sector ranking higher than where she was raised. Emine will never be able to see her family again but with the encouraging words from her father she plans to make a change in the world she lives in. Emine meets two new best friends who were also chosen to live in sector three: Etka and Peter. Etka is a brilliant and beautiful young girl who does not deny her inherent feminine nature as Emine does and Peter is a young boy with cerebral palsy forced to live in a girls home as a servant and slave to his country because of his condition making him an abomination to mankind. When Emine arrives at the girls home in sector three, she also meets her mentor for the next eight years unless chosen for marriage; Minerva. Minerva is from sector five, the only sector mainly consisting of women. The women in sector five came from the metropolis of Patrida Chora and were never chosen for marriage, therefore these women must devote their lives to teaching other young girls how not to fail at their role in society as they did. The schools main purpose is to prepare each young woman for the yearly Feast of Bachelors, where men young and old come to feast and pick a girl to be their wife like an animal for auction. Whilst learning how to be a proper wife and mother these girls along with Peter are also required to work in the field of crops and slave away for their country with little to no reward for their hard labor. 

The children and Emine’s mentor soon find out her secret and Minerva, the kind woman she is, promises that she will try to keep Emine safe from harsh punishment and encourages her to keep learning by providing her with illegal books. 

When the children are working in the field they are approached by a young boy named Dolion who is dressed in fine clothes, indicating his fathers status as a high official of sector three. Dolion, a bored and mischievous young boy overhears a conversation about the illegal activities of learning how to read and write. Instead of threatening Emine and the other children he asks to join their group and become their friend. Dolion shows the other children a secret hideaway place where they can all go play and live their lives as actual kids and not be caught by the “morality police.”

At the end of the first year, a scared young Emine and Etka make a pact and do everything they can to not be chosen by a man in the Feast Of Bachelors; their plan was successful and they vow to do it every year so they can stay in each other's lives. The children celebrate at their secret hideaway and enjoy childhood by learning and playing. The story then transitions to all these characters aged to their final year in the girls home. 

Now a young adult, Emine and Etka have different views on their role as women. Emine is still rebellious and missing the freedom and technicolor of childhood that occurred even in their oppression. She notices the difference between how Dolion is treated compared to the others and becomes envious. Dolion is in love with Etka and has bitterness towards her devotion to Emine. As the group of young adults navigate their way through life, tensions rise within Patrida Chora as demands for their labor grow higher. The citizens are starving and women are unwarrantedly punished more frequently throughout each sector. As Emine begins to notice more changes and abuse towards her kind, she grows even more weary of her coming fate. She reminds Etka of their pact but Etka’s plans have changed. Etka understands that life  as a spinster provides no safety or security that could come along with marriage. 

With Emine slowly losing her best friend's loyalty, then receiving a letter of her little sister's passing, then watching as one of their classmates is murdered for speaking in a man's direction; Emine decides she would rather die than live in a world she can't change. 

With the clock ticking, Emine persuades Dolion to enter the Feast of Bachelors and choose Etka, for her own peace of mind that her best friend will at least be safe being married to someone who loves her. Peter, still a loyal and close friend, notices Emine’s strategic planning and becomes worried with what her choice will be before the feast. 

Two days before the girls' last Feast of Bachelors, Emine asks for: Dolion, Etka, and Peter to meet in their secret place one last time. Emine has written goodbye letters before she plans to commit suicide, one to each of her best friends, including her beloved mentor: Minerva. Before Emine’s plans unfold, the women gather in line at the sector three market and it begins to rain. A large man pummels his way through the line of women knocking over Emine and Etka. Emine brushes herself off and turns around to see that her best friend now has her hair exposed out of her bonnet which would lead to a flogging. Emine quickly rushes to help but is stopped by a guard. Emine is knocked to the ground as she tries to defend Etka who is taken to the middle of the town market and beaten. Emine is helped up by Peter who then tries to stop her from helping Etka. Peter is unsuccessful and Emine rushes to her defense and pulls off her Bonnet, exposing herself to get the guards attention. The guard throws Etka down resulting in a massive head wound. Emine runs fullforce knocking the guard over and grabbing his weapon to use it on him. She scans the crowd and asks for Dolions help but he flees the scene. Emine drags Etka away from the crowd and threatens to shoot anyone trying to stop her. Emine takes Etka to their secret meeting spot and comforts her in her last moments. A commotion is heard throughout the sector trying to find the girl who murdered a guard. Emine leaves Etka in a bed of flowers and heads for Minerva's home for help. 

Upon arrival Minerva is already waiting for Emine and prepared, she gives her a map and dresses her in a soldier uniform that belonged to Minerva’s father.  As Minerva is preparing Emine to escape torture and imprisonment from sector three, Dolion is looking for the girls and stumbles on his lifelong love, dead in their secret spot. Dolion with a mix of emotions runs to his father to expose the girl responsible. Dolion provides the guards and officials with information on Emine and her mentor Minerva who has provided her with illegal books. 

As Emine hops on the train to Minerva’s hometown, sector five, Minerva must return and get her other girls ready for the feast of bachelors. 

The feast is interrupted by guards and the head patrolman arresting Minerva and congratulating the brave young man who turned her in. Peter, the servant boy of the Feast, steps in to try to save Minerva but is unsuccessful and in turn takes a harsh blow to the face. The patrolman requests Dolion to join him and his father to go see the President of Patrida Chora and be rewarded with a higher ranking job in the metropolis. As the train passes through the sectors, Dolion sits in silence and guilt. When the train stops and lets other officials from Sector five on, his attention is quickly diverted when he sees his lifelong friend disguised as a soldier. He believes his eyes are playing tricks on him and his father calls him away from the window so he never knows for sure if Emine is still alive. 

Emine follows the map she is given from Minerva to an old abandoned church and is met by a group of women. This group of women have: tools, electronics, security and are very advanced. The women are soldiers themselves waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike against the president of Patrida Chora.  

Honey By a Thread is inspired by the current events and lives of women following the Iranian revolution of 1979. It's a story for the ages and deeply relevant to the power struggles we see in our world today. Empathy is a force to be reckoned with. Changing perspective, where the question becomes: what if this happened to you or someone you love, will in turn persuade viewers to have a change of heart and create a larger discussion on what needs to be done to change the lives of so many women across the globe.