Hijabs Onscreen: Iranian Filmmaker Back with State-Approved Movie at Cannes 2025

One of Our Greatest Filmmakers Was Banned From Filmmaking. Now He’s Back With Cannes’ Best Movie.

Two years after he went on hunger strike in an Iranian prison, he’s returned with one of the year’s best movies.

Iran's Roustaee concerned about return home despite cautious Cannes film

CANNES, France - Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustaee said on Friday that he was careful in how he shot his Cannes Film Festival entry \"Woman and Child\", which never shows women without the mandatory hijab, but was still unsure how he would be received when he returned home. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The Iranian filmmaker had been sentenced to six months in prison after his last visit to the Cannes Film Festival, because he had not been allowed to go there.

Hijabs onscreen: Iranian filmmaker back with state-approved movie at Cannes 2025

Roustayi has previously defied his country's authorities. His last film in Cannes — "Leila's Brothers" in 2022 — landed him a six-month suspended jail term and film ban.

Hijabs on screen, critics off screen for Iran film in Cannes

A state-approved Iranian movie featuring women constantly in headscarves premiered at the Cannes film festival on Thursday, with director Saeed Roustayi defending his decision to bend to the diktats of national censors. The Cannes Festival has long offered a platform for independent Iranian filmmakers whose work is lauded on the…