Kristen Stewart Joins Iran ‘Women Life Freedom’ Solidarity Demo On Berlin Film Festival Red Carpet

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read
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Kristen Stewart joined Iranian filmmakers in a demonstration showing solidarity for Iran’s “Women, Life, Freedom” protests on the red carpet of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.

Stewart is attending the festival this year as the president of its international jury.

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Holy Spider actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, The Siren director Sepideh Farsi and actress Golshifteh Farahani, who is a member of Stewart’s international jury, were among more than 50 Iranian professionals participating in the act of solidarity.

Festival co-chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariëtte Rissenbeek also joined the demonstration to flank Stewart in the photo-call.

The demonstration followed news that the popular protests – sparked by the killing in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September – had flared up in several cities across Iran overnight.

Earlier on Saturday, Ebrahimi and Farsi participated in a Berlinale-hosted panel discussion on the role of cinema and art in the ongoing popular revolution.

Tehran-born actress Ebrahimi, who was forced to flee Iran in 2008, said she felt the filmmaking community still based in the country was becoming increasingly bolder in its willingness to challenge the hardline Iranian government even though it came with big risks.

“They just leave their fear. They want to be part of something important,” she told the panel.

“They want to do something without censorship, without government control, and that costs their careers in Iran and can cost their lives.”

She noted that her Holy Spider co-star Mehdi Bajestani had been unable to return home to Iran after travelling to Cannes for the world premiere.

“He got stuck in Europe. It’s too dangerous now for him to get back,” she said.

She said other members of the crew still living in Iran were now banned from working. “Our editor, our sound engineer and my assistant, they can’t work.”

Ebrahimi said that in a way she felt this was”good news” because it meant the debate about whether the cinema community should actively challenge the government had moved on.

“We always had this discussion on what our role in cinema should be. We’re not activists. We’re not politicians. But this is an important act as a filmmaker.”

Ebrahimi is at the Berlinale with Steffi Niederzoll’s documentary Seven Winters In Tehran about the case of Reyhaneh Jabbari.

The young woman was hanged in Tehran in 2014 after being convicted of murder for killing a former intelligence agent, who she alleged had tried to rape her.

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