BBC Persian

Nearly three years have passed since the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in Iran. Many who took part in the 2022 (1401) demonstrations paid a heavy price: some were killed, many were permanently injured, others were sentenced to long prison terms, and many lost their jobs. Among the well-known figures who supported the protests was Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most prominent film actresses. After she posted an unveiled photo of herself and later protested the execution of Mohsen Shekari, she was imprisoned. Following her release, she became ill and remained out of the public eye for some time. Alidoosti has also been banned from acting in cinema. For the first time, in the documentary Taraneh, produced by Pegah Ahangarani, Alidoosti speaks about her decision to join the protest movement after the killing of Mahsa Amini. She talks about the day she was arrested at home in front of her little daughter and about the loss of her skin due to an autoimmune disease.

On October 14th,2023, An Internationally prominent and acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, Darioush Mehrjui, and his scriptwriter wife, Vahideh Moahmmadifar, were slaughtered in their home in Iran. A few months before this tragic event, Mehrjui protested publicly against the censorship of his films and dared Iranian authorities to kill him. Featuring rare and intimate footage from Mehrjui and his wife in the last months of their lives, this documentary offers a unique chance to see the life of an artist in a closed society. Here, a murdered filmmaker is talking about his legacy in battling with censorship in his country.

Iranian film director Amir Naderi talks to Zar Amir Ebrahimi about his career in this documentary directed and produced by Ebrahimi and broadcast by BBC World Service and BBC Persian. Amir Naderi is one of the most influential figures of Iranian modern cinema. He was born in 1945 in the Persian Gulf port of Abadan. Orphaned at an early age and living the life of a street urchin, Naderi had to survive by selling ice, working as a shoeshine boy and recycling empty beer bottles. He developed his knowledge of cinema by watching films in the theaters where he worked at a very young age. He began his career by taking pictures for some notable Iranian features. In the 1970’s, he started directing his own films, and made some of the most important movies of the New Iranian Cinema. After moving to New York in the early 90’s, Amir Naderi continued to make films. They have premiered at the Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and Sundance Film Festivals.

"Image Latent" explores the life of Parviz Kimiavi, a key yet underappreciated figure in Iran’s avant-garde and New Wave cinema. The film offers a glimpse into his world, following his Parisian wanderings and capturing his evolving passion and love for filmmaking.

Simin Daneshvar was an Iranian pioneering novelist who lived nearly for a century and under 3 different political regimes. She and her husband, (Jalal Al Ahamd) have been regarded as "Iranian Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre". But they had a very different fate. Simin's life is a mirror of what has happened to Iranian women throughout a century, from unveiling the hijab and playing important roles in society to imposing hijab and staying at home in the Islamic regime. This film looks at her life through the history of women's movement in Iran.

An overview of Hossein Alizadeh's life and works

A documentary based on Faraj Sarkohi's interviews with Houshang Golshiri. Kaveh Golestan filmed these interviews between 1993 and 1996.

This documentary takes a view on the life of famous Iranian musician and singer, Farhad Mehrad, one of the most important figures of Iranian rock music in 20th century.

Inside the heart of the BBC Persian newsroom in London, as the team covers unrest in Iran. We hear from reporters about the challenges of carrying out their journalism despite being banned in Iran and the personal sacrifices they make to do so.

Child soldier is about the unheard story of child soldiers of the Iran-Iraq war, a documentary that has interviewed the child soldiers of this war among unseen images of the Iran-Iraq war. For the first time in four decades, they recount memories that they have never shared with their families before.

After Iran's Islamic Revolution secretive courts were set up to try suspected ideological opponents of the regime, with no jury, no defence lawyers and often no evidence beyond a confession extracted from the defendant by means of torture. Those who survived them still bear the psychological scars today. In this new film, BBC Persian has been talking to people who have passed through the courts over the past thirty years, as well as to their families, to lawyers and human rights activists.

Son of the revolution is a documentary about the life and death of Sadegh Ghotbzadeh

Christopher de Bellaigue explores the fraught but intimate history of Britain's relations with Iran, including Britain's role in the overthrow of several Iranian governments.

A documentary about drinking, brewing, and equipment of tea.

This Documentary is abuot Mohammad Reza Shajarian's life. The host of it is Sadeq Saba.