Global filmmaking community support Iranian directors before 'propaganda' trial starts in Iran

The global film community is showing support for Iranian directing duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha ahead of their trial over “propaganda against the regime” allegations.  

After months of interrogations and travel bans over the past two years, Moghaddam and Sanaeeha are set to face Iran's Revolutionary Court on Saturday (1 March). 

The charges leveled against them concern the production and distribution of their Berlinale-premiering film My Favourite Cake – our joint Number 1 film of 2024 alongside Mohammad Rasoulof’s now-Oscar nominated film The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  

The filmmaking duo’s film follows a lonely septuagenarian widow Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) in Tehran who rediscovers her desires in a country where women’s rights are heavily restricted. 

They are charged with making a film labeled as “obscene” and “offending public morality.” They are also accused of “propaganda against the regime” and other charges claiming the film was “unlawfully” screened without the Iranian authorities’ permits for distribution.

Signatories of the petition, launched by the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), include Rasoulof, who fled Iran last year to avoid prosecution related to The Seed of the Sacred Fig — as well as Pedro Almodóvar, Juliette Binoche, Agnieszka Holland, Céline Sciamma, Joachim Trier, Hiam Abbas, the directors of the Berlin, Venice and Rotterdam, as well as the European Film Academy.

The petition has gathered more than 3,200 signatures so far. 

It reads:  

We, the undersigned, call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran's authorities to immediately and unconditionally clear all the charges levelled at filmmakers Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha.   

After months of interrogation, and after continuous travel bans for the past two years, they are now due to appear in Iran's Revolutionary Court on March 1st, 2025 because of their Berlinale-awarded film My Favourite Cake, which has been labelled as "obscene", as "offending public morality", as "propaganda against the regime", and as “unlawfully” screened without the authorities' permits for distribution.  

In the light of these persecutions, we stand uniformly by Maryam & Behtash and their freedom and right to create and to express themselves, just like any filmmaker and artist should be able to.” 

In our interview with Mohammad Rasoulof, he stated: “I’d like to flag up the filmmakers of My Favourite Cake, Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, who are undergoing all sorts of problems inside Iran. They are banned from leaving the country because of their films, and in fact, they are being investigated for similar charges for spreading prostitution and corruption on Earth, for instance. This atmosphere will be the cause of a series of new problems because in the world now, it’s not possible to control content, like the Iranian regime does. The result of this is more and more repression, and acts of subversion will surface, as the government cannot control everything.” 

You can read the full interview here.  

In our review for My Favourite Cake, we wrote: “My Favourite Cake is a gently subversive film that dares to pepper radicalism within a poignant tragicomedy. (...) Behind a seemingly harmless set up and a Linklater-ish second half lies messages of female empowerment that are not tolerated under the nation’s repressive regime. Driven by two magnificent central performances, which make the allegorically loaded epilogue truly resonant, Moghaddam and Sanaeeh’s film is a subtle but powerful snapshot of the harsh realities facing Iranian women, as well as a commentary about what could befall those daring to take control of their destinies. It’s impressive and haunting in equal measure.”