As regional conflict continues, many of Iran's artists continue to confront the regime that rules them.
This week, Iranian creatives told The National that the country’s people should not be defined by the actions of its leadership. “We are not the regime,” said artist Sahar Gahavni, reflecting a sentiment widely shared among artists inside Iran and across the diaspora.
For decades, filmmakers, writers and journalists have used their work to criticise censorship, document political repression and expose the social consequences of government power. Many have paid a price for doing so, facing bans, prison sentences and exile.
Despite those pressures, Iranian culture has become one of the most influential artistic movements to emerge from the Middle East in the past half-century. Films regularly premiere at Cannes, Berlin and Venice, bringing stories about life under the Islamic Republic to global audiences.
Now, with filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident nominated or multiple Oscars, that tradition is again reaching the world stage.
For readers and viewers looking to understand how Iranians artists have challenged their government, these films, books and podcasts offer a starting point.
Films
It Was Just an Accident
Panahi’s Oscar-nominated 2025 drama begins with a chance encounter at a Tehran garage. A mechanic believes he has recognised the man who tortured him while he was a political prisoner.
Unsure whether he has the right person, he kidnaps the suspect and turns to other former detainees to help identify him. Over the course of a tense night, the group debates what to do next, confronting the question of whether revenge can stand in for justice after years of government abuse.
Panahi has spent much of the past decade facing arrests, travel bans and restrictions imposed by Iranian authorities. Despite those pressures, he has continued making films that are released at major festivals and reach international audiences.
This Is Not a Film
Panahi's vital status quo-challenging work did not begin with It Was Just an Accident. In 2011, when the director was placed under house arrest and banned from directing films by Iranian authorities, he responded by documenting a day inside his apartment.
The project, made with filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, shows Panahi discussing scripts he is no longer allowed to film and reflecting on the restrictions imposed on his career.
The documentary was famously smuggled out of Iran on a USB drive hidden inside a cake and had its premiere at Cannes Film Festival.
Its release drew international attention to the pressure faced by Iranian filmmakers.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Mohammad Rasoulof’s 2024 drama unfolds during the nationwide protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.
The story follows a judge working in Iran’s revolutionary courts whose loyalty to the system begins to fracture as demonstrations spread across the country.
Rasoulof has repeatedly faced prison sentences and creative bans from Iranian courts because of his films examining corruption and abuses of power.
Shortly before the film premiered at Cannes Film Festival, he fled Iran after receiving another prison sentence.
Holy Spider
Ali Abbasi’s 2022 crime thriller is based on the real case of Saeed Hanaei, a serial killer who murdered 16 sex workers in the city of Mashhad in the early 2000s.
The film follows a female journalist investigating the killings while confronting hostility from police, conservatives and members of the public who regard the murderer as a vigilante.
Shot outside Iran, the film examines how misogyny, ideology and stigma against sex workers shaped the response to the crimes.
Iranian authorities condemned the film after its Cannes premiere, accusing it of offending values and damaging the country’s image. Zar Amir Ebrahimi won Best Actress at Cannes for her performance as the journalist pursuing the case.
Leila’s Brothers
Saeed Roustayi’s 2022 drama follows a Tehran family struggling with debt, unemployment and rising living costs as Iran’s economic crisis deepens.
The story centres on Leila, a woman trying to persuade her brothers to invest their savings in a small business rather than pursuing a traditional family status scheme led by their ageing father.
Premiering in competition at Cannes Film Festival, the film drew attention for its depiction of economic hardship and generational frustration in Iran.
Authorities later banned the film from screening in Iran. In 2023, Roustayi and the film’s producer were sentenced to six months in prison for screening it at Cannes without official approval, with the court accusing them of producing “propaganda against the system”.
Books
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic 2000 memoir chronicles her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war.
Through stark black-and-white illustrations, Satrapi documents how ideology, war and the regime's authority reshaped daily life in Iran.
The memoir became an internationally acclaimed animated film that received an Academy Award nomination.
Satrapi’s work remains one of the most widely read personal accounts of growing up in post-revolution Iran.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi’s 2003 memoir documents a literature class she hosted privately in Tehran during the late 1990s.
Her students gathered to discuss novels that were banned or discouraged by authorities, including works by Vladimir Nabokov and Jane Austen.
The discussions often became broader conversations about censorship, gender roles and personal freedom in Iranian society.
The book became an international bestseller and is widely taught in universities across the world.
Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
Marina Nemat’s 2007 memoir recounts her arrest as a teenager after protesting against the Islamic Republic in the early 1980s.
She was imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison, where she describes interrogation, torture and the pressures faced by political detainees.
The book provides a personal account of the prison system that has long been used to silence critics of the government.
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur
Shahrnush Parsipur’s 1989 novel follows five women whose lives intersect as they seek independence from restrictive social expectations in Iran.
Blending magical realism with political commentary, the book explores gender inequality, authority and personal freedom.
The novel was banned in Iran shortly after its publication in 1989, and Parsipur was arrested and jailed. Her work has remained controversial inside the country while gaining international recognition.
The story later inspired artist Shirin Neshat’s 2009 film adaptation of the same name.
Podcast
The Riddle of Iranian Cinema (BBC World Service)
This 2025 BBC documentary podcast explores how Iranian filmmakers built one of the world’s most respected national cinemas despite censorship and political restrictions.
Hosted by Iranian-American filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz, the series traces the evolution of Iranian cinema from the post-revolution period to the present.
Directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Jafar Panahi are examined as artists whose films reached global audiences while confronting political and social realities inside Iran.
