"Rehearsal for a Revolution": A Documentary About Iran, Like a Therapy Session, Captivates Attention at Cannes Film Festival

Iranian director Bijeh Ahangarani poses at the set of her film "Rehearsal for a Revolution" at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The film blends the director's personal history with the history of her country since the 1979 revolution.

For Iranian director Bijeh Ahangarani, making her documentary "Rehearsal for a Revolution" was more like a therapy session than traditional filmmaking, as it blends her personal history with the history of her country since the 1979 revolution.

"I wanted to say everything on my mind, whether it was from my personal life or from the history of Iran, and I didn't think about the consequences," she told Reuters at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film is being screened out of competition. "Perhaps if I had thought about it beforehand, it would have been a bit scary."

Personal Stories and Recent History

Ahangarani uses her own personal and family stories to illuminate pivotal moments in Iran’s recent history in five episodes, employing animation, archival news footage, family archives, and audio recordings. The film begins with her father, who fought in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and his friend, who was executed as a political prisoner after the revolution, and concludes with her final years in exile and the bloody crackdown on protesters in January.

Ahangarani takes viewers on a hidden camera tour of Iran’s streets after the 2009 presidential election and also shows them audio recordings made by her uncle, Rashid, before his suicide following the university raid in July 1999.

Raising Awareness

Ahangarani described filmmaking as the only way she could draw attention to what was happening in Iran, especially given the widespread internet blackout since early 2016, which cut off communication for many citizens. “The only thing I can do, however small, is to reflect what’s happening there and not remain silent about it,” she said, adding that she aims to ensure the world remains aware of the situation in Iran.

She explained that her parents were outside Iran before the war broke out, but her contact with many of her friends, especially those in the film industry, has been almost completely severed. “Many of them probably don’t even know I’m participating in a festival now and that my film is being screened here,” she continued. Ahangarani turned to documentary filmmaking in recent years after a decades-long acting career.

Moments of Light

Ahangarani balances the film’s dark themes with moments of light. “If you keep showing darkness after darkness, the darkness becomes boring and loses its impact,” she says. She adds that the lightheartedness reflects the greater resilience of Iranians. “Even in the darkest moments, when there’s no glimmer of hope in their lives, something remains in them,” she says.