17/05/2026 - CANNES 2026: Actress-turned-documentary director Pegah Ahangarani surveys her own and her family’s involvement in Iran’s many civil uprisings

Iran’s most significant revolution to date was the 1979 Islamic Revolution, establishing an indefatigable theocracy, but Pegah Ahangarani clearly pines for a new uprising that’s just as transformative. Once an acclaimed actress in the Iranian industry, and now a prolific London-based documentary maker, her debut feature, Rehearsals for a Revolution, chronicles the story of her wider family and part of her own, as their actions closely dovetail with the country’s waves of unrest, whether they try to reform or rebuild the regime. Although highly topical, with the country still under invasion by the USA and Israel, the film’s exposition-driven method, and its broad accounting of personal and political histories, makes it feel less incisive than it could be, and not always so informative, given the increasingly wide understanding of these events. It has premiered as a Special Screening in Cannes.

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Although Ahangarani narrates the film in Persian through an ostensibly first-person perspective, she still discloses little about herself, which might have granted the film’s obvious urgency even more force. Instead, dividing the structure into five chapters, Ahangarani chooses one person close to her – typically a family member, although in the most revealing segment, it’s her literature teacher at school – and shows their desire and attempts to shift the political status quo. But, to twist Gil Scott-Heron’s famous rap, the revolution “is” televised, as the director deploys a panoply of footage – newsreels, commercial cinema and propaganda from their era, as well as home movies in various small-film gauges – to visualise and elaborate upon her father’s initial zeal for Khomeinism, replaced by disenfranchisement after the brutal Iran-Iraq War; her uncle’s progressive and reformist ambitions whilst a student journalist; and her own radicalisation amidst the Green democratic movement of 2009. She aims to see the struggles as not being in vain and, true to her acting background, as “rehearsals” or preparation for broader raised consciousness; her individual subjects as well as the country itself are forever ready to agitate, and she doesn’t even need to reference the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the liberalisation resulting from it, to show the urban population’s continued bridling against the worst of the regime.

One of Rehearsals for a Revolution’s more provocative elements is choosing to partially anonymise its subjects, with a closing disclaimer noting that characters’ identities have been changed, akin to journalistic reporting on confidential information. But this is understandable: post-revolution Iranian cinema has always sought secrecy and camouflage to convey its message, and Ahangarani must protect the real individuals who’ve offered their testimony, even if the events are historic. Although she directly references Jonas Mekas’s poetic, yet highly abstract, docu-memoir As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty as inspiration in the closing segment, as she shows the footage bins, voice-over screenplay and editing timelines on her laptop, the appeal of her film is far more direct and accessible: enhanced clarity, despite a reduction in depth.

Rehearsals for a Revolution is a co-production by the Czech Republic and Spain, staged by Europe Media Nest and Fasten Films. Its international sales are handled by The Party Film Sales.

Photogallery 16/05/2026: Cannes 2026 - Rehearsals for a Revolution

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Pegah Ahangarani
© 2026 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it