A little over two years ago, on September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish student, was beaten to death by the Iranian morality police over a few strands of hair escaping from her veil. This was seen as one injustice too many by the Iranian people, who began to rise up to the cries of "Woman, Life, Freedom". The crackdown was brutal and the highly anticipated revolution did not take place, but the fire of anger continued to smoulder under the ashes. This documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at Iran's unprecedented popular uprising. A film by Shooresh Afkari and Virginie Plaut.
A few weeks after the death of the young Kurdish student Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian morality police, we were contacted by Iranian filmmaker Shooresh Afkari. He wanted to "fight in his own way, by doing what he knows best: filming and showing the history that’s being written before his eyes". He sent us the footage he filmed in Iran, where cameras are not welcome, and we then edited the film in France. Our documentary is the diary of this underground film shoot.
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A few weeks after the death of the young Kurdish student Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian morality police, we were contacted by Iranian filmmaker Shooresh Afkari. He wanted to "fight in his own way, by doing what he knows best: filming and showing the history that’s being written before his eyes". He sent us the footage he filmed in Iran, where cameras are not welcome, and we then edited the film in France. Our documentary is the diary of this underground film shoot.
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
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NewsTranscript
00:00♪♪
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00:20♪♪
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00:36You can call me Shuresh.
00:40In Persian, the name means rebellion.
00:45I'm 37 years old, and I've lived my whole life in an Iranian city.
00:50♪♪
00:56For my own safety and my family's, I can't give more details.
01:01If my true identity were ever discovered, I could be sentenced to death.
01:05♪♪
01:09In September 2022, the death of a young woman shook the country.
01:15Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish student,
01:18was arrested on September 13th
01:21for letting a few locks of hair escape from underneath her veil.
01:27She died from her injuries three days later,
01:30no doubt because she was beaten by security forces.
01:37Yet more injustice, but this was too much.
01:45At first, women took to the streets in protest.
01:52They were joined by young men,
01:55then the entire population, despite the danger.
02:00The Woman, Life, Freedom movement had begun.
02:08I decided to take part in my own way
02:12by doing what I know best.
02:17Taking my camera and filming
02:21to document our anger and follow the fate of fearless protesters.
02:28A student.
02:34A taxi driver.
02:38A painter.
02:41A doctor.
02:44And a mother.
02:52Hello, Virginie.
02:54I don't know if you remember me.
02:56We crossed paths at the film festival.
02:59Our friend in common told me to contact you.
03:04I want to make a documentary about the revolt
03:07that's taking place right now in Iran.
03:09It's impossible for me to do that by myself from here.
03:13I'd like to have a co-producer with me on this project,
03:16and I thought of you.
03:18I could send you the footage and you could do the editing in Europe.
03:28Hello, Suresh.
03:30I'm happy to hear that you're doing well.
03:32Of course I'd be interested,
03:34but you're well aware of the risks that could entail for you
03:37and your family.
03:40Yes, I know that, but I don't have a choice.
03:43We need to bear witness. The world needs to know.
03:49It wasn't easy.
03:51We'd have to take many precautions.
03:54Film as discreetly as possible,
03:56often with nothing more than a mobile phone.
04:01We had to use encrypted messages,
04:04change accounts and numbers,
04:06figure out new passwords to evade surveillance from the security services.
04:11But in the end, we managed to get our images and our stories to you.
04:37DOOR CREAKS
05:01DOOR CREAKS
05:07The first time I ever saw Mitra
05:10was when she came sprinting out of a side street,
05:13appearing suddenly amidst a cloud of tear gas.
05:20She was fleeing the police after taking part in a protest.
05:24I instinctively opened the car door
05:27and she jumped inside without hesitating.
05:36DOOR CREAKS
05:47I quickly understood that despite her appearance as a frail young girl,
05:51sitting next to me was one of the most determined members
05:54of the protest movement, always ready to rally others.
06:01Hello, everyone. What are you doing?
06:05Why aren't you going outside?
06:08Tomorrow they're planning on executing two of our own.
06:11Now's the time to go out and protest.
06:14I'm pleading with you. Come, please.
06:18DOOR CREAKS
06:32My name's Mitra. I'm 18 years old.
06:35I'm a student in my first semester of accounting.
06:39I was born and I grew up in a religious family.
06:43I'm a prisoner in my own home and I rarely go out.
06:47I wake up in the morning without any goal, without knowing what to do.
06:52We Iranian women, we have no real future.
06:56Here a woman is worth half a man.
06:59She's considered a commodity.
07:07But if we fight today, it's because we're filled with hope.
07:11Beautiful things await us soon.
07:18A few days after our meeting, Mitra leaves me a message.
07:23She wants to introduce me to someone.
07:27He's called Arash. He's 19.
07:30And they've been seeing each other for a little over a year,
07:34breaking one of the Islamic Republic of Iran's biggest taboos.
07:39The first time that I saw Arash, I was out with one of my friends.
07:44The truth is that on that day, I didn't notice Arash.
07:51I'd only just started going out and my mum didn't stop calling me.
07:56Then my friend said that this boy, who I didn't remember,
08:01had said that he liked me and that he wanted my number.
08:06We started speaking and got to know each other.
08:09But in Iran, it's very difficult to have a relationship,
08:13especially when you're 18 or 19.
08:16We have no freedom and we can't do anything.
08:20If we go to the park, we'll be spotted by the police.
08:24In the streets, everyone watches us.
08:28And we can't even make love.
08:36For example, one time Mitra came to our house.
08:41We weren't doing anything in particular.
08:44We were sitting far from one another and we were searching online.
08:49And my mother turned up.
08:54We weren't doing anything bad.
08:58But because a girl was with me in my home,
09:02it was disastrous for our reputation.
09:07My mum went completely crazy.
09:10She threw herself at us and slapped us both.
09:23What are you thinking about?
09:28About freedom.
09:30Let's imagine that we're free.
09:45If we were free, we'd do whatever makes us happy.
09:49We would hold hands in the street.
09:53And more than anything else,
09:55I'd really want to kiss you in the middle of the street.
10:12Aside from these two young lovers full of hopes and dreams,
10:16it's almost impossible for me to find other participants.
10:20My fellow Iranians are too scared to tell their story.
10:26Hello? Hello, how are you?
10:29Where are you? You were supposed to come.
10:32Honestly, I've been thinking a lot.
10:35I can't come.
10:37And I'd advise you to abandon your project.
10:41I started doubting whether it was a good idea to make a documentary.
10:49That changed one day
10:51when I was taking a taxi to cross to the other side of the city.
10:56After striking up a conversation,
10:59I quickly realised that my driver, Kaveh,
11:02was very implicated in the protest movement,
11:05despite the risk he was taking.
11:10He immediately agreed to take part in our project.
11:16In five minutes, I'll show you
11:18where members of the government and the mullahs live.
11:28Look, this belongs to our leaders.
11:30Look at all the space they have in the best part of town.
11:37That all belongs to them.
11:40I'm scared of filming. They have cameras.
11:44Let me drive around again.
11:46Can you roll your window up?
11:55Look at this building.
11:57It belongs to the imam of Friday prayers.
12:00It looks like a castle.
12:0350 families could live in a building that big.
12:06I really wonder where they find all their money.
12:10The bastard.
12:11Look, he has a sticker of the former head of the Revolutionary Guard.
12:15I'm glad the Americans blew him to pieces.
12:18I'd love to have a Molotov cocktail right now.
12:23It's such a shame there's not much I can do.
12:27My name is Kave, and I'm 28 years old.
12:31When I was younger, my father was addicted to drugs.
12:36One day, he left home, and he never came back.
12:41I loved studying.
12:43I wanted to become a doctor.
12:45I wanted to become a doctor.
12:47I wanted to become a doctor.
12:49I wanted to become a doctor.
12:51I wanted to become a doctor.
12:54I loved studying,
12:56so I decided to wash the dishes in a restaurant
12:59to help pay for my university studies.
13:02But I had to stop.
13:11I have no future here.
13:13When I see how the children of rich politicians and the mullahs
13:16live the good life,
13:18that they all live in Europe or in the United States,
13:21or here in rich neighbourhoods,
13:23I think, what about us?
13:25We work all day and night for nothing.
13:28When you see our ordeal, why not protest in the streets?
13:32Everyone keeps telling me,
13:34you'll get yourself killed.
13:36So what? What's the point of living like this?
13:46As I travel across the country, searching for new witnesses,
13:50I wonder,
13:52how did the Iranian people put up with this for so long?
13:57How did we survive in a country where everything is banned?
14:03Singing and dancing in public for women.
14:09Holding hands.
14:12Laughing in the street.
14:14Being happy.
14:21How did Iran produce so many thinkers and artists
14:25under the crushing weight of so much censorship?
14:30I decide to take a deeper look.
14:33Thanks to the help of a friend,
14:35I manage to get in touch with a young painter.
14:42My name is Golbahar. I'm 24 years old.
14:46I come from a well-off family.
14:54My father was never very strict.
14:57I was always able to live as I wanted.
15:06My mother did everything for me.
15:10My mother did everything she could
15:13to avoid wearing the mandatory veil.
15:17She often ran into trouble with the regime because of that.
15:33I remember one incident that really left its mark on me.
15:37I sent one of my works to an exhibition
15:42and it was accepted.
15:44It was a portrait of a woman with visible hair
15:47and in the end the curator of the exhibition
15:50hid the hair by covering it up with paper.
16:02That was very hard for me to take.
16:06After the death of Massa Amini,
16:10together me and several of my friends
16:15found the strength to paint a picture.
16:19It's the only thing I know how to do.
16:23I use my work to express my anger and to protest.
16:32I'm not afraid of death.
16:35I'm not afraid of death.
16:38I'm not afraid of death.
16:41I'm not afraid of death.
16:44I'm not afraid of death.
17:15But the internet network is extremely slow in Iran.
17:19The regime deliberately slows it down
17:22to make it hard for members of the opposition
17:25to talk to each other and to organise themselves.
17:28I have to use a VPN,
17:31a piece of software that puts my location abroad,
17:34to access websites and avoid detection by security forces.
17:39Sometimes it takes more than 24 hours
17:42to send a few minutes of video.
17:49It had now been several weeks since I last heard from Mitra.
17:55I tried calling her.
17:58I tried finding out if something had happened to her.
18:03But I couldn't find any hint of her whereabouts.
18:07Then I finally heard from her.
18:12To break free from her religious family's overbearing supervision,
18:16she tricked them into thinking she was leaving to study in Tehran,
18:20several hundred kilometres away.
18:23She told them she'd be staying in a strict boarding house for young girls.
18:27But the truth is that she's keeping up the fight
18:30alongside her boyfriend Arash.
18:35My family took me to the station and made me get on the bus.
18:39With Arash, we'd come up with a plan.
18:42He took a taxi and followed the bus.
18:46As soon as the bus arrived, I left the house.
18:49Then I was told I'd meet my boyfriend Arash in Baghdad.
18:56I was supposed to meet him there, but I was not ready.
19:01I was asked what he was doing there.
19:04He told me he was looking for his girlfriend.
19:07When I came to see him, I found him lying in a majority-occupied room.
19:12As soon as we were outside the city, I asked the bus driver to stop, so I could get off.
19:24Arash was waiting with a taxi.
19:37We didn't know where to go.
19:46A boy and a girl walking alone at night can quickly attract the police's attention.
19:52We'd risk arrest.
19:56In the end, we hid under a bridge, so that no one could see us.
20:07The next day, I left to find a place where we could sleep.
20:19And then I found an odd job.
20:28When you leave this evening, cover your face, so you can't be recognized.
20:34And you, don't forget that they're merciless, they beat everyone.
20:38Be careful, stay by my side, nothing will happen.
20:45If they arrest me, I'll say that I don't know you.
20:49You'll say that we're going shopping, that we're just passing by.
20:55But anyway, they're assholes, liars and savages.
21:00They'll always have something to hold against you, even if you haven't done anything.
21:04Arash, you shouldn't have washed them with that.
21:08Why?
21:09It works well with that.
21:10Let's scratch the bottom.
21:13OK.
21:17Guys, this evening, at 11pm, we'll meet at station 7.
21:23Make sure you're wearing gloves, masks, hats, glasses, comfortable clothes and appropriate
21:28shoes.
21:29You're used to it.
21:30We'll all meet up, and then we'll split up into groups of two.
21:34And we'll do what we planned.
21:45Since the start of the uprising, I've heard about doctors who treat wounded protesters
21:50in secret.
21:52Protesters who can't go into hospitals because they risk being found out by the regime.
22:02Dr Sabhani and his colleagues have decided to help the protest movement in their own
22:07way.
22:11After weeks of exchanges, I was finally able to earn his trust.
22:16And he let me accompany him on one of his rounds.
22:24OK, take a deep breath.
22:46Your heartbeat is normal.
22:48I'm going to examine your eyes now.
22:52All right, it doesn't look good.
22:58Your eye is infected.
22:59I'll go ask for advice from one of my colleagues.
23:01He's a specialist.
23:02I'll give you his number, that way you can talk to him directly.
23:05Thank you, doctor.
23:06You're welcome.
23:07I've been a doctor for 10 years.
23:17My father was a colonel in the Shah's Imperial Guard.
23:21He never left Iran after the Islamic Revolution.
23:24And so he was arrested.
23:32I was always opposed to the regime of the Islamic Republic, but I never took part in
23:37the demonstrations.
23:38To be honest, I was scared.
23:43But then the news began spreading of the death of a young woman, Masa Amini.
23:50I saw for myself the sharp rise in the number of injured and dead, because I was treating
23:55them firsthand as a doctor.
23:58I remember seeing a young girl who had been beaten so hard with a baton on her head that
24:04her eye had popped out of its socket.
24:08That was when I decided to do something.
24:11To do anything I could to help the wounded.
24:20Your scars are looking better.
24:22I'm going to remove the bandages now and take a closer look.
24:25There has been bleeding.
24:26I'm going to change the bandage.
24:29I'm having lots of headaches and dizziness.
24:33Don't worry.
24:34Let me check your blood pressure.
24:44You're feeling dizzy because of low blood pressure.
24:47I'll give you an IV and you'll feel better.
24:57Since 1979 and the birth of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the people have tried to topple the
25:03regime several times.
25:07But for the first time, at the onset of February 2023, I felt like we may be getting close.
25:18In the streets, we witnessed scenes that I never thought I'd see.
25:25Young Iranians daring to publicly humiliate religious figures and leaders.
25:34But amidst our euphoria, the reality of daily life brought us back down to earth.
25:40I was supposed to be meeting Karveh, the taxi driver and activist, for the next part of
25:45our shoot.
25:46Instead, I found his mother in a state of despair in the middle of an apartment turned
25:51upside down.
25:56It was eight or nine in the morning and I heard some people knocking at the door.
26:02I went to open it.
26:04Several people burst in with their faces covered up.
26:07I didn't know them at all.
26:08I didn't know who they were or where they'd come from.
26:12They went into the room.
26:14Karveh was sleeping.
26:16He'd come home earlier.
26:18They grabbed him and took him away.
26:22In my opinion, they must have been the secret services of the Revolutionary Guards.
26:28I'd heard that they burst in and take young people away.
26:31I have no idea what he's accused of.
26:33I haven't heard from him at all.
26:37They didn't take anything from him?
26:39There was nothing suspicious?
26:42They took his hard disk from his computer, but they didn't find anything else.
26:57Mitra had, until now, managed to evade the police.
27:02Her parents still think she's in a regime-run boarding house several hundred kilometres
27:07away.
27:08But that doesn't stop them from keeping up the pressure.
27:22Yes, mum, hello.
27:26I told you I had class today.
27:28You've called me ten times now.
27:30I'm in class.
27:31I can't pick up the phone.
27:35You're annoying me.
27:36I can't take this anymore.
27:38I told you I had class all day.
27:43Yes, I have classes every single day.
27:47Okay, I'll send you my schedule.
27:50I already suggested that, but you didn't want it.
27:54Why don't you go ahead and call the university?
27:58Yes, of course, I wear my veil when I go to university.
28:04Okay, mum, that's enough.
28:08I've had enough.
28:19After wavering for a few months, the regime has gone back on the offensive against the
28:24woman, life, freedom movement.
28:27The Supreme Leader douses us with state propaganda.
28:32It is necessary for women to wear a veil.
28:42It is something that cannot be ignored.
28:48Our people are Muslims.
28:50They are religious.
28:51They are devout.
28:52Our women are devout.
28:55They must obey the government of the city.
28:59In the streets, the regime cracks down harder than ever.
29:12Almost everywhere, intelligence surveillance cameras are supposed to spot and identify
29:18women who don't wear the veil.
29:22Arbitrary arrests rise as efforts to stamp out resistance intensify.
29:28No one is safe.
29:52Virginie, it's me.
29:56I was arrested, but I managed to escape.
29:58I hid for a few days.
30:00I hope you didn't try and contact me.
30:02They took my phone and my camera.
30:04If they ever find out that I've been speaking to a Westerner...
30:12I'm so happy to hear from you.
30:14I couldn't stand waiting any longer.
30:16As promised, I'll be in touch.
30:19I started to realize how many people had fallen victim to the regime's clampdown
30:25by reading foreign newspapers.
30:29Almost 600 deaths in protests, including several dozen children.
30:37More than 20,000 people were killed.
30:41A dozen or so already executed.
30:45What did you write in your will?
30:47Where do they rule? I don't want them to make fun of me.
30:51You don't want them to read the Quran?
30:53You don't want them to pray for you?
30:55I don't want them to pray.
30:57I want them to celebrate.
30:59I want them to sing a happy song.
31:01I want them to celebrate.
31:03I want them to celebrate.
31:05I want them to celebrate.
31:07I want them to celebrate.
31:09I want them to sing a happy song.
31:12Others wait their turn as death nears.
31:16And then there are those who have simply disappeared,
31:19like Karveh, the taxi driver.
31:25They can all go to hell.
31:27Each day, his mother does the rounds,
31:29visiting different police stations and prisons to try and find some trace of him.
31:35They force me to wear the shador, this cursed, mandatory hijab.
31:41I have to wear it when I speak to the authorities.
31:44I hope they all go to hell.
32:02I only have one son.
32:05I'd give my life for him.
32:07I can't sit down and wait.
32:09And what if they just give me his dead body,
32:11like they have done for so many others?
32:15How are you?
32:17Is everything OK?
32:19I've arrived. I'm next to the tribunal right now.
32:23And no one will give me any kind of response.
32:30They won't give you an answer?
32:32When I give them his name, they say he isn't there at all.
32:36What should I do? They're going to kill my son.
32:43No, that won't happen. Don't cry.
32:45We're going to find a solution.
32:49Please, do something. I beg you.
32:52First of all, I'm going to see if I can find him,
32:54at least to find out if he's alive or not.
32:57They told me to look in every single prison, one by one.
33:02But which ones?
33:25Time passes by.
33:27It's now eight months since the uprising began.
33:31We had hoped the regime would fall rapidly.
33:34But we understand now that it'll take much longer.
33:41With each passing day,
33:43daily life becomes more and more unbearable in Iran.
33:48Caught between international economic sanctions
33:51and corrupt leaders who steal whatever wealth is left,
33:54the population sinks into poverty.
34:01THE REVOLUTION
34:04Iran
34:28Posters like these, that begin flourishing in big Iranian cities,
34:32reveal the depth of our misery,
34:34proposing organs in exchange for money.
34:53As the surveillance and repression worsens,
34:56the protests become rarer.
34:58But a new form of resistance takes shape,
35:02perhaps less spectacular,
35:04but just as bold and courageous.
35:09When she's not working on her art,
35:11the young painter Gulbahar tries to keep alive the flame of hope.
35:19If I'm writing something,
35:21I'm writing for a reason.
35:23I'm writing for a reason.
35:25I'm writing to help people.
35:27I'm writing for a reason.
35:29I don't want to be a producer.
35:31I don't want to be a writer.
35:33I don't want to be a politician.
35:35I don't want to be a journalist.
35:37If I'm writing these little messages, it's because right now, Iranians are weighed down
35:44by sadness and anger too heavy for their shoulders to carry.
35:52With this, I want to remind you that we must keep hope alive.
36:02Sometimes daily life is so hard.
36:04But the simple fact that there are so many of us, that we're there for each other, eases
36:13our burden and makes it bearable.
36:23An initiative that may seem harmless from a Western viewpoint, but one that could risk
36:29a year's of prison.
36:37After searching in vain for weeks, the mother of Kaveh, the taxi driver, holds on to each
36:43and every sign of hope.
36:46So now I'm going to a market.
36:51It's called the Devil's Market.
36:54I was told that I could find white pigeons there.
36:59So that's what I'm looking for now, a white pigeon.
37:02I'll release it and hope that my son will also be freed.
37:32We have a lot of hope, and I'm sure that our revolution will prevail.
38:03As for Mitra and Arash, they defy the regime by living their love story out in the open.
38:12On television, religious figures say that if we have a drought, it's because we don't
38:18respect the obligation to wear the hijab.
38:21That angers God.
38:26But since women remove their veils, it rains far more often.
38:36This year, it rained a lot here, to such an extent that there's now a river running right
38:41through our city.
38:43Arash and I have decided to go for a walk.
38:46I told him that I wanted to go without my veil.
38:56These are nice moments, but at the same time I always worry that something will happen.
39:03At any moment, the police can arrest me because I'm not wearing the veil.
39:08Or a member of the revolutionary guards can kill me from far away.
39:21But removing my veil and walking bareheaded lets me feel free, especially alongside my
39:30boyfriend.
39:34It's also a way of protesting publicly against the regime.
39:51I went to the tribunal this morning, and they told me that the letter authorizing Karve's
39:57release had arrived, but they didn't hand him over to me.
40:00Since then, I've been waiting here, but he still hasn't come out.
40:14There he is!
40:17He's there.
40:21That's him.
40:34Hello, my son.
40:51My mother.
40:54How are you, my darling?
40:56My baby.
40:58They're going to jump on us if we stay here.
41:21Karve, you promised me you'd be careful.
41:25I was careful, mum. It wasn't my fault.
41:28You have no idea what I went through during this whole time.
41:33It's my car.
41:35I knew you'd be happy to see it. That's why I brought it.
41:40I'm so anxious.
41:42It's better if you drive.
41:49I was put in solitary confinement for 40 days.
41:53I didn't know where I was.
41:55I didn't know whether it was day or night, nor what the time was.
42:00There was nobody, and then suddenly, I heard a voice.
42:06I didn't know whether to believe him.
42:08He told me he was a judge,
42:10and that I'd been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
42:17That's horrifying.
42:19Thank God you are free, Karve.
42:21Be more careful from now on.
42:23Please, we're being watched.
42:25I beg you, I can't take it anymore.
42:28They'll end up having to leave sooner or later.
42:31You'll get yourself killed.
42:33The slightest misstep, and they'll catch you.
42:36You have to be careful.
42:38If something happens, I will protest again,
42:41until these bastards leave.
42:44Be careful.
42:46You won't always be so lucky to come out alive.
43:02It's been 18 months since I started criss-crossing Iran
43:06to document the uprising Woman, Life, Freedom.
43:10On several occasions, I narrowly escaped arrest.
43:15But I feel like the noose is tightening.
43:18I'm regularly summoned to the police station
43:21to be interrogated and interrogated again.
43:25But I feel like the noose is tightening.
43:28I'm regularly summoned to the police station.
43:31They interrogate my loved ones on my whereabouts and my work.
43:36It's time for me to leave.
43:47One last time, I soak up these landscapes and smells
43:51that have been the backdrop to my life.
43:56I don't know what awaits me on the other side of the border.
44:02But one thing is for sure.
44:05As soon as the Islamic Republic falls, I'll come back home.
44:25IN THE NEXT EPISODE
44:55IN THE NEXT EPISODE
45:25IN THE NEXT EPISODE