Iron Ladies

"The 35s" began in 1971 as a protest movement, after a group of young Jewish housewives and mothers in London heard about a 35-year-old Jewish librarian from Odesa, Raiza Palatnik, who had been imprisoned by the Soviet authorities, after she sought an exit visa, in order to practise her Jewish faith freely outside the USSR.

Dressed in black, 35 women, who were all about the same age as Palatnik, protested outside the Soviet Embassy in London. Their protest worked. Palatnik was soon freed.

Within months, chapters of "The 35s" had sprung up in Ireland, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Belgium and Israel. 

In this compelling documentary, filmed against a backdrop of new Russian tyranny, the now elderly women tell their stories for the first time.