In solidarity with Iranian people demonstrating all over the country, Cineuropa gives voice to the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association and reports on the declaration of prominent Iranian directors and artists in exile. The IIFA issued a statement in which independent filmmakers express deep concern over the ongoing crisis and the escalating repression by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) and Islamic Republic authorities against protesters.

The Association reported over 2,000 deaths, the use of military-grade weapons against civilians in the streets, and a total internet blackout that makes communication within Iran—and naturally with the outside world—extremely difficult. This communications blackout makes the news that manages to filter out from Iranian territory alarming.

For this reason, the Association urges not only artists and celebrities but the entire world to call on embassies to open their internet access in Tehran, allowing neighbours of embassy buildings to connect with the outside world.

Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or winner for It Was Just an Accident [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jafar Panahi
scheda film] and previously awarded the Best Screenplay Award at the Croisette in 2018 with 3 Faces, the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2015 for Taxi Teheran, and the Golden Lion at Venice in 2000 for The Circle), and Mohammad Rasoulof (Special Jury Award winner in Cannes 2024 with The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Directors Talks @ European…
intervista: Mohammad Rasoulof
scheda film] and Golden Bear winner in Berlin in 2020 with There Is No Evil [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]) warned about the internet blackout and escalation of violence by the Pasdaran as being a "blatant tool of repression" intended to conceal violence against protesters. "In recent days, following the presence of millions of Iranians in the streets protesting against the Islamic Republic, the government has once again resorted to its most blatant tools of repression," they wrote.

Panahi and Rasoulof both know what repression and censorship entail. The Palme d'Or-winning director was sentenced by the Iranian regime last month in absentia to a year in prison for "propaganda activities." Rasoulof fled Iran in 2024 while appealing against a prison sentence and now lives in exile in Europe.

Many have begun using the hashtags #IranianRevolution and #IranianRevolution2026 to highlight the scale and impact of the protests. "This is a revolution and not a protest. Please be their voice," calls upon Soheila Sokhanvari, an Iranian-born, UK-based artist known for portraying rebelling Iranian women.

Iranian director exiled in France for over forty years, Sepideh Farsi (Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film]), insists in a tribune published in French newspaper Libération: "What the Iranian people need today from the international community is concrete support in their struggle, and absolute firmness toward the Iranian regime so that the massacres cease and political prisoners are released. Transparent media coverage of events in Iran must be permitted to prevent manipulation. Today, we must have the humility to bow before the courage of the Iranian people and accompany their fight for freedom and transition toward a democratic system. A transition that can only come through the ballot box and with the participation of all the country's democratic forces."