Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (DW)
Two acclaimed Iranian film directors, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, have been given suspended prison sentences by a Revolutionary Court.
The directors were punished over their film My Favourite Cake, which has won prizes at film festivals across Europe and the US.
Their “crime” was to show a woman in Iran, as she finds romance, without the compulsory hijab. Moghaddam said, “We wanted to tell the story of the reality of our lives, which is about those forbidden things like singing, dancing, and not wearing hijab, which no one does at home.”
They were given 14-month sentences, suspended for five years, and a fine for “spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion”. An additional one-year sentence, suspended for five years, and confiscation of all equipment was ordered “participating in the production of vulgar content”. Another fine was imposed for“showing a film without a screening license”.
Iran’s authorities have systematically cracked down on award-winning directors over their work. Moghaddam and Sanaeeha were banned from leaving Iran, preventing their attendance of the Berlin Film Festival and promotion of My Favorite Cake when it was released in Europe.
Jafar Panahi, internationally prominent since 1995, has been recurrently arrested since the mass protests in 2009 against the disputed Presidential election. He is banned from leaving Iran.
Mohammad Rosoulof has been periodically imprisoned since 2010. After the selection of his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig — set among the 2022-2023 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests — was selected in the main competition of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the cast and crew were interrogated by Iranian authorities and barred from leaving the country.
In spring 2024, Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging, a fine, and confiscation of his property. Soon afterwards, he and some crew members managed to flee the country, with the director enduring a 28-day journey. On May 24, he attended Cannes, where he received a Special Award for his film.
