The solidarity of La Biennale di Venezia to the women and men of Iran

At the 80th Venice International Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia firmly renews its solidarity with the women and men of the Iranian People who are fighting for their freedom and against the ongoing repression, and to the filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned.

This is partly in light of the recent conviction of the director Saeed Roustaee, after six months of imprisonment for having screened his movie Leila's Brothers at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. Saeed Roustee had participated at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 in the Orizzonti section with Metri Shesho Nim (Just 6.5).

After the initiatives at the 79th Festival in 2022, in particular the flash mob for the director Jafar Panahi, this year La Biennale di Venezia is organizing a new gesture of solidarity at the 80th Festival (August 30 – September 9, 2023), in collaboration with the Democratic Association of Iranian People in Venice.

The directors, artists, and other personalities from the world of film present at the Lido on September 2 will be invited to participate in a flash mob at 6 pm on the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema in order to raise the awareness of the media, governments, and humanitarian organizations worldwide with regard to the situation of the Iranian people.

The flash mob will be held on the day that the movie participating in the Orizzonti section Tatami, by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, will screen in the Sala Darsena (at 2 pm). The film is a collaboration between an Israeli director and an Iranian actress, a co-direction that tells the story of a young female judoka who faces a life-changing decision during the World Championship when the Iranian authorities want her to withdraw from the competition.

The independent section of the Festival, Giornate degli Autori, will participate in this gesture of solidarity with a special opening event on Wednesday, August 30 (Sala Perla, 2 pm), Aftab mishavad (The Sun Will Rise) by Ayat Najafi. October 2022, Tehran, a theatrical company is rehearsing the Greek comedy Lisistrata by Aristophanes. During the scene of the assault on the Acropolis, which was occupied by the women of Athens, the troupe discovers that they have been surrounded by the riot police.

This year's flash mob once again represents a concrete demonstration of the maximum solidarity of the world of film with the Iranian People.