Romantic drama triggers government crackdown on Iranian filmmakers

The feel-good movie called "My Favourite Cake" has been lauded on the festival circuit and appeared in cinemas in more than a dozen countries at the end of 2024.

With favourable reviews mounting and more international releases expected in coming weeks, Tehran-based directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha are facing rising intimidation from Iranian authorities.

"They want us to stop the release of the film in different countries," Sanaeeha told AFP by videocall from the Iranian capital.

"When a film goes to festival or starts a new release in a new country, they call us ... and then push us to stop the film, in France, in Italy, in Germany and everywhere," he added.

After forces from the Revolutionary Guards raided their office in 2023, the pair were charged with "propaganda against the regime", "spreading the libertinism and prostitution" and breaking Islamic law with "vulgarity".

Once a month or more since then, the directors of the 2020 film "Ballad of a White Cow" have had to report to police for questioning and have had their passports confiscated.

Other acclaimed Iranian directors from Jafar Panahi to Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled Iran last year, have faced similar pressure.

"Now we are waiting for the final decision of the court," Sanaeeha explained.

- 'Story of reality' -

Subtle and moving, "My Favourite Cake" defies Iran's strict censorship rules with its intimate portrayal of everyday life -- something the director couple knew was a risk.

"From the beginning, we knew that it was going to have consequences for us," Sanaeeha continued. "Not only me and Maryam ... The actors are now on trial, the same as us, with less charges, but they are in the same case."

The film touches on many sensitive issues for Iran's Islamic regime, portraying a couple that remembers life before the social restrictions brought in following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

It also about a relationship between two unmarried adults -- a widow and a widower -- while the female lead, Lili Farhadpour, does not wear a veil.

"We wanted to tell the story of the reality of our lives, which is about those forbidden things like singing, dancing, not wearing hijab at home, which no one does at home," Moghadam, who is also an actress, told AFP.

"Being a normal person, having desires, touching each other, all these things have been forbidden. But to tell these realities was very important for us," she added.

"In Iranian films, for 45 years, you would see an Iranian woman waking up in bed with a hijab. It's absurd because it's not happening in reality in Iranian houses!" Sanaeeha added.

- 'Shocked' -

Filming started two weeks before the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protest movement in Iran in 2022 sparked by the arrest of a 22-year-old student Mahsa Amini for a dress code violation who later died in police custody.

The protests were suppressed by a deadly crackdown that left hundreds dead, according to human rights groups.

"We were shocked. We stopped the shooting (of the film)," Sanaeeha explained. "Then after two days, we all came together... and we talked for a couple of hours and we reminded ourselves that the film that we were making was the same topics of the movement."

The film comes out in France on Wednesday and is set to release in Brazil, Greece, Norway and Belgium this year, while negotiations are underway for theatrical releases in seven other countries, including the United States.

For the moment, Iranians can only watch it through illicit downloads or pirated versions shared on encrypted messaging services such as Telegram.

"We believe that we have to be here. We have to stand and we have to fight," Moghadam said of the risks the couple are taking.

"We don't know what will happen in the future," she added.