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.

The United States is once again rushing headlong into a conflict in the Middle East, displaying even greater ignorance and disdain for the country in question. Iran, in this case, is a unique country in many respects; for decades, and despite the Islamic dictatorship, its culture has radiated beyond its borders, particularly through its thriving film industry. It is no coincidence that so many Iranian films are in competition at film festivals, where they win numerous awards, the most recent being It Was Just an Accident, by Jafar Panahi, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2025. While the media often reduces Iran to stereotypes—the hijab, the mullahs, the nuclear issue—its cinema speaks to us of humanity, resistance, and poetry.

Iran through its filmmakers: a lesson in freedom 

Since the 1979 revolution, Iranian cinema has managed to circumvent censorship and restrictions to produce works of rare depth. Abbas Kiarostami, a leading figure of the Iranian New Wave, embodies this ability to transform everyday life into a universal metaphor. As Martin Scorsese pointed out, «His films are meant to be peeled back like onions. Each layer reveals a new truth.» Scorsese has been deeply influenced by his colleague’s work, speaking of the purity of his images and his way of capturing the essence of his subjects. «When I watch his films, I want to spend time with these people. They make me see these individuals in a new light, full of hope.»

To see this for yourself, you need only revisit his masterpieces: the Koker trilogy, set in the eponymous village in northern Iran (1987, 1991, 1994), Taste of Cherry (1994), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). Kiarostami captures the will to live, everyday life that is only seemingly insignificant, and the beauty of the Iranian landscapes, all while subtly critiquing social inequalities. Cinema thus becomes an act of resistance: revealing what those in power seek to hide.

Private drama to evoke the political

In fact, many Iranian filmmakers focus on personal dramas or news stories to subtly address the upheavals, political violence, and conflicts plaguing 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), directed by Asghar Farhadi, explores the dynamics of debt and reputation in a society where appearances take precedence over the truth. Farhadi is the only filmmaker in the world to have won the Oscar for Best International Feature 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 graphic novel. Through the eyes of a young girl, she recounts the revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, the repression of a Westernized middle class, and the heartbreak of exile. A winner at Cannes and an Oscar nominee, the animated film is an ode to freedom of thought.

Iranian filmmakers are outdoing one another in creativity despite the bans and restrictions imposed by the regime, and the prison sentences many of them have endured; they outwit censors by showing them edited versions of their films, hide USB drives inside pastries to distribute their films at Cannes, and prove to us that no dictatorship, no matter how brutal, can silence artists.

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

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