In Iran the regime also kills directors, cinema in the trenches

It’s been 15 years now since the Iranian cinema tells and anticipates the great changes and instances that they shake the country’s society.

The film criticClaudio Zito, one of the leading experts of Iranian filmography, spoke about it with AGI.

Repression and intimidation of filmmakers

In Iran, la repression of anti-government protestswhich broke out at the end of December in Tehran and spread throughout the country, also claimed its victims among exponents of theworld of culturewhile the campaign is growingintimidation against filmmakersof the country.

Il cinema in Iranhas been at the forefront of the denunciation of the for yearspolitical and social problems. Directors likeJafar PanahiPalme d’Or in 2025 for ‘A simple accident’, andMohammad Rasoulofnominated for an Oscar last year with ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree’, have brought to the big screen themes previously unseen in Iranian cinema: theworkers’ strikesla economic crisisand of the family, thewomen’s claimsthe anger and violence of a society that analysts now describe as being in a “state ofpermanent protest“.

Symbols of freedom and moral authority

“For the Iranians, their owndirectors and actorsthey are godssymbols of freedomand litmus tests, in spite of themselves, of the level ofcensorship and repression“, the film critic explains to AGIClaudio Zitocreator and editor of the blog ‘Iranian Cinema’. “Let’s think about Panahi himself or the actressTaraneh Alidoostiwhich they paid with theprisontheir opinions” contrary to the Islamic Republic. “Despite the risks they chose to remain in their country with their backs straight and this makes themmoral authorities“, continues Zito, also author of the volume dedicated to the director Jafar Panahi, ‘Visioni di contrabando’ (Digressions).

Murders and interrogations: Panahi’s complaint

Panahi himself, currently in the US for the Oscar campaign, denounced yesterday on his Instagram account themurder of director Javad Ganji39 years old, on January 9: “He was hit by two bullets from the security forces in Sadeghiyeh Square in Tehran. Meanwhile, the intelligence of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution has intensified thepressure on directors with interrogations“, we read in the filmmaker’s post. “The regime is trying to erase themassacre of demonstratorsintimidating artists, inventing narratives of loyalty and burying the truth beneath thejudicial repression“, adds Panahi, reporting that directors Majid Barzegar and Behtash Sanaeiha “were summoned separately andquestioned harshlyfor hours because of their recent joint statement condemning state violence and repression.”

Semi-clandestine cinema and watershed films

As if to reflect the sentiment that now animates the Iranian streets, convinced of the impossibility of reforming the system, “even a large part ofcinema has now abandoned the models and rules imposed by censorshippreferring to work insemi-clandestine“, Zito points out. The critic then lists some films that broke the mold, anticipating theradical changesthat Iran is experiencing. ‘A separation‘ by the directorAsghar Farhadiis a 2011 film “which certainly acts as a watershed”, says Zito, “it marks a new image of Iranian society: it shows educated characters from theurban middle classuna family in crisisand where husband and wife are absolutely on the same level. Therefamily crisisunder the pressure offemale demandsof equal rights, is a constant ofIranian cinemaof recent years, a consequence of the changes taking place in society”.

Women’s demands and workers’ strikes

In this sense, two other emblematic titles are ‘Leila and her brothers‘ (2022) by Sa’id Rustayi, where the protagonist is played by Alidoosti and ‘The seed of the sacred fig‘ (2024) by Rasoulof, in which we see the actresses already actingwithout veil. “In both cases there is onepatriarchal family put in checkby the strength of the claims of autonomy, independence and opposition to the status quo raised by thedonnewho are part of it”, explains Zito.

In ‘Leila and her brothers’, as in the latest Panahi, there is also an important new element: the films show somestrikesand godsworkers punishedfor their trade union commitment. “We have never seen a strike in Iranian cinema”, concludes the critic, confirming that the directors have in some way anticipated the demands that in recent weeks we have seen as central to theprotests suffocated in blood: sanctions,economic crisisinflation and finally the desire to overcome theIslamic Republicand his chains.

The chain of violence and instability

Raising the question of where all this violence will lead is once again a film. With ‘A simple accident‘ Panahi slides in front of the camera right “lachain of revenge and violenceinto which Iran has entered, having become so unstable that every three or four years it has to face a new onewave of protests“, concludes Zito, “with the squares becoming radicalized and therepression that becomes increasingly violent“.