Freedom through the lens of Iranian filmmakers 

Before being part of the «Axis of Evil», to use the rhetoric of the Bush years, or the target of Operation Epic Fury, Iran is first and foremost a country with a culture dating back thousands of years, expressed in its deeply moving cinema. 

For the umpteenth time, the USA has thrown itself headlong into a conflict in the Middle East, redoubling its ignorance and disdain for the country concerned. For decades, despite the Islamic dictatorship, Iran's culture has shone beyond its borders, notably through its abundant cinema. It's no coincidence that so many Iranian films find themselves in competition at festivals, where they win numerous awards, the most recent being It Was Just an Accident, by Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or winner at Cannes in 2025. While the media often reduce Iran to its stereotypes – the veil, the mullahs, the nuclear issue – his seventh art speaks to us of humanity, resistance and poetry.  

Iran through its filmmakers: a lesson in freedom 

Since the 1979 revolution, Iranian cinema has been able to bypass censorship and prohibition to produce works of rare depth. Abbas Kiarostami, a figure of the Iranian New Wave, embodies this ability to transform the everyday into a universal metaphor. As Martin Scorsese once remarked, «his films are there to be peeled like onions. Each layer reveals a new truth». Scorcese was deeply influenced by his colleague's work, speaking of the purity of his images, the way he captured the essence of his subjects. «When I see his films, I want to spend time with these people. They make me see these people in a new, hopeful light.» 

For proof of this, we need look no further than his masterpieces: the Koker trilogy, about an eponymous village in northern Iran (1987, 1991, 1994), Taste of Cherry (1994), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). Kiarostami films the will to live, the seemingly insignificant everyday life and the beauty of the Iranian landscape, while at the same time offering a subtle critique of social inequality. Cinema thus becomes an act of resistance: showing what those in power seek to hide.  

Private drama to evoke the political 

In fact, many Iranian directors focus on individual dramas or news stories to evoke the upheavals, political violence and conflicts that run through their society: in Sun Children (2021), children are enlisted by a criminal to find a treasure buried beneath a school. They must infiltrate the school and become students, giving them unexpected access to education. A Hero (2021), by Asghar Farhadi, explores the mechanisms of debt and reputation in a society where appearance takes precedence over truth. Farhadi is the only filmmaker in the world to have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film twice, once for A Separation (2011) in 2012 and for The Salesman (2016) in 2017. It Was Just an Accident, tells the story of a tragic encounter between a man and a father he believes to be his tormentor.  

Other highlights include Persepolis (2007), by Marjane Satrapi, adapted from her autobiographical comic book. Through the eyes of a little girl, she recounts the revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the repression of a Westernized middle class, and the heartbreak of exile. Awarded a prize at Cannes and nominated for an Oscar, the cartoon is an ode to freedom of thought. 

Iranian filmmakers compete creatively despite the bans and restrictions imposed by the regime, and the prison sentences many of them have endured; they deceive the censors by showing them truncated versions of their films, hide USB keys in pastry shops to show their films at Cannes, and prove that no dictatorship, no matter how fierce, can muzzle artists. 

Every month, our film review Jocelyn Daloz explores the seventh art in its socio-historical context.

You have just read an open-access column from our print edition (Le Regard Libre N°125). Debates, analyses, cultural news: subscribe to support us and access all our content.