Woman, Life, Freedom Film Festival

We are a group of theatre and film artists, most of whom had no choice but to leave Iran at different times. We now live and work in various countries across the world. In Iran under the rule of the Islamic Republic we did not enjoy the necessary security for creative life and work, without censorship and surveillance. Some of us were active in theatre and film in Iran until very recently, but when the Iranian people’s revolutionary movement began, we too, like so many other Iranians, accepted the consequences of supporting that movement openly.

This remarkable and one of a kind social, cultural, and political revolutionary movement has taken shape with women as its axis. It has stirred us to come together in support of the rights of political prisoners and of protesting theatre and film artists, who are under pressure, who have been harmed or imprisoned. We also stand side by side in support of the progressive movement of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ (Persian: zan, zendegi, azadi; Kurdish: jin, jian, ’azadi). We do this despite our diversity of perspectives and intellectual tendencies.

In order to build greater support for this revolutionary movement from the theatre and film artists of the world, we will strive to illuminate the Islamic Republic’s use of artistic festivals and gatherings across the world for propaganda purposes, and in doing so put an end to the presence and influence of Iranian state institutions in such events, as well as supporting independent artists.

We stand together in protest against institutionalized government violence, misogyny, and all types of discrimination and infringement of the rights of citizens, and commit ourselves to amplify the voice of the people until our shared values, ‘freedom and equality’, are realized