The directors of My Favourite Cake, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, whose film is featured in the Love & Anarchy programme, had their passports seized, preventing them from attending the Swedish premiere of their film a week ago.
In February, the Iranian government prevented the two from attending the world premiere of their film at the Berlinale Film Festival. The directors recently got their passports back after a long wait, but Moghaddam’s journey to Sweden was halted a week ago at the Tehran airport and their identity card was seized. With their actions and threats, the Iranian government is trying to silence Moghaddam and Sanaeeha.
In My Favourite Cake, a woman dances with a man, appears without the “mandatory” headscarf, and even enjoys some wine. The violent pressure of public authorities and the tight-knitted web of rules and prohibitions that oppress women make these fleeting moments in Tehran rare treats. My Favourite Cake is a startling slice of happiness and a beautiful story of a first date.
Moghaddam commented on the situation in Instagram: “Yesterday, just when I had set off to the airport to leave the country intending to pay a visit to my family in Sweden and attend our film’s premiere, my passport was confiscated at Tehran’s airport and I was informed that we (me and Behtash Sanaeeha) are barred from leaving the country again. It was only a week ago after our passports were given back to us. All this happened only after I had got tickets, paid the exit fees, and a lot of more expenses which had obviously gone in vain. I have really hard time to figure out why we were given back our passports when it was their intention not to let us leave. Is it because of a hidden agenda to mentally and psychologically abuse us?
Now I would like to address the President: Mr Pezeshkian.
It is Crystal clear to any intelligent Iranian that you and your comrades are not this nation’s company and friends. Your fundamentalist fellows, at least, do not claim or pretend to be any better than they are. You cannot lead a society to growth and reform through deception, but you make it drown in the swamp of hypocrisy.” Read the original post here.
Additionally, the director of this year’s Love & Anarchy closing film The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof, had to flee Iran ahead of the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival after being sentenced to five years in prison. Rasoulof was also imprisoned in his home country during the 2022 protests.
The Love & Anarchy festival condemns the actions of the Iranian government and stands in solidarity with these filmmakers.